Kim Min-jae scores as Napoli beat Monza 4-0

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Kim Min-jae scores as Napoli beat Monza 4-0

Napoli's Kim Min-jae heads in a goal during a Serie A match against at the Diego-Maradona stadium in Naples on Sunday. [AFP/YONHAP]

Napoli's Kim Min-jae heads in a goal during a Serie A match against at the Diego-Maradona stadium in Naples on Sunday. [AFP/YONHAP]

 
Kim Min-jae’s fledgling Serie A career continued to go from strength to strength on Sunday, as the Napoli center back walked away with a clean sheet and his first goal in only his second league game with the Italian club.
 
Kim played the full 90 minutes against Monza at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona in Naples, Italy, taking his spot at the center of what has quickly become Napoli’s go-to back line, alongside Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Amir Rrahmani and Mario Rui.
 
Napoli dominated from the start in their first home game of the season, with Khvicha Kvaratskhelia scoring the opener in the 35th minute. Victor Osimhen added one more in injury time to put Napoli up 2-0 to end the first half, with the home side looking unstoppable against the recently-promoted club.
 
The second half was essentially a repeat of the first. Kvaratskhelia, who also joined the club this year, added another in the 62nd minute, becoming the first player ever to score three goals in the first two games of the season for Napoli.
 
Kim added No. 4 in injury time, proving his potency in the air as he headed home a corner from Piotr Zieliński.
With the win, Napoli now sit in first place in Serie A with two wins and a big seven goal difference lifting them above second-place Inter Milan.
 
Kim joined Napoli last month from Turkish club Fenerbahce after one year playing in the Super Lig. According to reports, Kim is under contract with Napoli until 2025, with the club retaining the option to extend the deal for two more years. Napoli paid 19.5 million euros ($20 million) to Fenerbahce to trigger Kim’s release clause, and have included a 45-million-euro release clause in his new contract.
 
Kim's is only the third Korean ever to play in the Italian league, but his career is already off to a stronger start than either of his predecessors — Ahn Jung-hwan and Lee Seung-woo.
 
Ahn played 30 games for Perugia in the early 2000s, but his career there was sabotaged when he scored the goal that knocked Italy out of the 2002 World Cup, while Lee made 14 appearances for Verona in the 2017-18 season, before the club was relegated out of Serie A and he was eventually relegated out of European football, returning to Korea last year without a contract.
 
Kim's arrival in Napoli ended a long transfer saga that saw him linked to clubs in Italy, France, Portugal and England.
 
 Napoli will play their next Serie A game against Fiorentina on Aug. 28.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]
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