Kim recently made his own preference clear.
"I hope that I get plenty of playing time from the coach this season and that I can stay at the club," he said, addressing his situation directly.
Whether an intriguing enquiry from England changes that stance remains to be seen. According to Tz, Aston Villa made fresh contact with the South Korean's camp following last Friday's pre-season friendly between the two clubs, having already been tracking him for weeks beforehand.
Villa and Bayern are already in separate discussions over a move for João Palhinha, and Emery's side are understood to want Kim to arrive alongside his Bavarian team-mate rather than in isolation.
That would give Aston Villa two established Bundesliga performers in one window, addressing needs in both central midfield and central defence as Emery continues to reshape his squad following several departures and Ezri Konsa's suitors circling with uncertainty elsewhere at the back.
Even Tz, the outlet reporting the interest, acknowledges Kim's wish to stay in Munich makes any transfer unlikely. Any fee would probably fall in the region of €20-40 million. The 29-year-old joined Bayern Munich from Napoli in 2023 for a reported €50 million, but lost his starting spot to Jonathan Tah last season following a string of mistakes, settling instead into a role as a reliable deputy, one he appears to have made peace with.
His contract runs until 2028, and Nottingham Forest have also made contact over the physically imposing right-footed defender, though those enquiries, much like Villa's, have so far failed to shift his stated desire to remain at the Allianz Arena. Earlier reports linking Kim with Manchester United and Juventus have not been substantiated.
Kim's most recent outing against Villa did little to suggest a player desperate to leave: he scored in Bayern's 2-1 win in Hong Kong, a result that appears to have only sharpened Villa's interest rather than deterred it.
Whether that translates into a formal approach in the closing weeks of the window remains to be seen, but for now Bayern's stance and the player's own comments both point toward Kim staying put for at least one more season.