Newcastle United has reportedly initiated a move to rival Manchester United for Napoli defender, Kim Min-jae. The South Korean defender has attracted significant interest this summer despite having a £42 million release clause in his contract which is only valid for the first two weeks of July. Kim Min-jae has had a transformational effect on Napoli. While the Italian giants were already closing in on becoming the top dog in Serie A, the 26-year-old provided the nudge to help them win the Italian topflight league title for the first time in 33 years. In addition, he has also been a pivotal figure for his national side. 
Kim Min-Jae at a match for Napoli. Source: Web Kim turned out 45 times across all competitions for Napoli last season and rounded it off with two goals and two assists. The Sun reported that Newcastle has also held talks with Kim’s representatives. The publication reported; “Newcastle are weighing up a move for Manchester United target Kim Min-jae. While Man United remain favourites to land the South Korea ace, Newcastle are also keeping tabs. “SunSport understands that Kim’s representatives held talks with Toon chiefs at St James’ Park at one of their last home games of the season.” The report also gave details of how Newcastle coach, Eddie Howe is eager to provide competition for Fabian Schar and Sven Botman as Newcastle prepares to play Champions League football next season. 
Kim Min-jae with Napoli fans after securing a big win. Source: Getty Jamaal Lascelles, who is approaching the final year of his deal at St James’ Park, could be sold this summer. The Englishman does not feature prominently in Howe’s future plans at the club. The Sun says that Kim will decide his future next month once he has completed South Korea’s mandatory military service. The 26-year-old wants to move to the Premier League after one season in Italy. Manchester United has been the most interested club pursuing Kim Min-jae this summer. And it is hardly surprising why the Red Devils are keen on signing the defender. After all, Harry Maguire faces an uncertain future at Old Trafford. And he will likely leave Manchester United to resurrect his stuttering career. It will be interesting to see how Manchester United will react to Newcastle being eager to land Kim Min-jae. With widespread reports positioning the Red Devils as the front-runners, the ball is in their court. And a summer move to Old Trafford seems likely for the South Korean international.
Arsenal showed no sign of raising the white flag in the Premier League title race with a 2-0 victory at Newcastle United on Sunday, May 7, to close the gap on leaders Manchester City to one point. City have a game in hand on top of their slender lead, but the Gunners are refusing to give up the fight in their hunt for a first league title in 19 years. A defeat would have left Arsenal’s hopes of a first title since 2004 hanging by a thread but Martin Odegaard’s brilliant strike and a Fabian Schar own goal gave the Gunners the vital victory. 
Newcastle’s second home defeat of the season slows the Magpies’ charge towards UEFA Champions League football next season as their lead over fifth-placed Liverpool remains three points. Eddie Howe’s men likely need just six points from their final four games to guarantee Champions League football for the first time in 20 years. However, they could slip to fourth later on Sunday if Manchester United win at West Ham. 
Lloris was unable to prevent Newcastle from running riot with the ball picked out of his net on a handful of occasions before halftime. Jacob Murphy opened the scoring inside 61 seconds and fired in a 25-yard stunner eight minutes later after Joelinton had doubled the Magpies’ advantage. In-form Swedish striker Alexander Isak then got in on the act, bagging a brace in the space of two minutes as disgruntled Spurs supporters began to head for the exits. After conceding five times in the opening 21 minutes of a humbling outing against Newcastle, Lloris had to be hauled off at halftime. Harry Kane did pull one back for the visitors early in the second half, taking him to 207 Premier League goals and one behind Wayne Rooney on the all-time list, but Callum Wilson scored within 65 seconds of being introduced off the bench just past the hour mark as Newcastle ensured that they hit fellow Champions League hopefuls for six. 
After the game, Lloris candidly spoke out and could not hide his disappointment at the result and performance. He told Sky Sports; “It’s very embarrassing. We should apologise to the fans. We didn’t show a good face and we could not match the performance of the Newcastle players. We were late in all aspects of the game and we completely missed the first part of the game. The second half is a different story but it’s really painful. “It is not even about tactics, we just could not fight and we were late. I think Newcastle just had a great performance, they were very aggressive and offensive everywhere they had the ball. It is difficult right now to assess the performances but there was a lack of pride. You can get punched once or twice, but it was like we could not even react or bounce back. Newcastle deserve a lot of credit for starting the game at 100 miles per hour. They knew exactly what to do. “We can try to find excuses and analyse the performances but the first thing is we miss the fight. In football if you go on the pitch without the desire to show aggressiveness makes things very hard. 
“It was a bit of a mess on the field. We cannot hide ourselves behind the club’s problems, we are professionals but today there was too much lacked. There was a differences in level between Newcastle and Tottenham. We have two very difficult games to bounce back with in midweek.” Tottenham who are guaranteed to end another season empty-handed and behind arch-rivals Arsenal, have more testing encounters fast approaching as their next two Premier League fixtures will see them take on Manchester United and Liverpool. 
