Player of the Month Kim Min-jae has car stolen in Naples

Napoli's Kim Min-jae in action during an Italian Serie A match between Atalanta and SSC Napoli in Bergamo, Italy on Saturday. [EPA/YONHAP]

Player of the Month honors, a stolen car, another league win and a first taste of loss: It’s been yet another whirlwind week in Kim Min-jae’s Napoli career.

Kim was named the Italian Footballers’ Association’s Player of the Month for October last Friday, just a month after winning EA Sports Player of the Month in September.

Kim played every minute in Serie A in October as Napoli continued an undefeated streak with four straight wins.

Kim, who signed with Serie A club Napoli last summer, is off to an explosive start to his debut European series, appearing in all-but-one of the club’s games this season. Napoli have been on incredible form, remaining undefeated in three straight league games this season.

Kim has been racking up the personal accolades, appearing on FourFourTwo’s list of the top 10 defenders in the world last month and getting a shout out from FIFA ahead of the Qatar World Cup.

Napoli’s form continued over the weekend as the Partenopei came from behind to beat Atalanta 2-1. Kim, known as the “Monster” in Korea, was a key part of that victory, providing a number of crucial blocks as Napoli looked to come back after conceding an early penalty.

Saturday’s victory came four days after Napoli suffered their first loss against all competitions on Tuesday, dropping their final Champions League group stage game to Liverpool. The loss snapped a 13-game winning streak, but didn’t stop the Naples club topping Group A.

With both teams already guaranteed a spot in the knockout stage at the Champions League, Tuesday’s game was purely for bragging rights. Liverpool got the honor of handing the Partenopei their first defeat since April, although Napoli still top the group with a huge plus 14 goal difference.

Off the field, Kim was back in the headlines in the few days between those two games when Italian media reported Saturday that Kim’s wife’s car was stolen.

According to La Repubblica, the Fiat 500 was stolen from near Kim’s house in the Posillipo area of Naples.

Kim is the second Napoli player to be targeted by thieves in the last week. On Wednesday, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s Mini Countryman was stolen from outside his house, although police were able to find it and return it within 24 hours.

Although there are no Champions League games scheduled until next year, the Partenopei won’t get any time to rest this week. Napoli will be back in action in Serie A on Tuesday when they take on Empoli at home.

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