Bayern Munich get warm welcome in South Korea

Bayern Munich got a warm welcome as they arrived on the South Korean island of Jeju on Sunday for the first part of their pre-season trip to Asia.

Captain Manuel Neuer, Bayern's South Korea international Kim Minjae, Germany captain Joshua Kimmich and other players tirelessly signed shirts and other objects for the excited local fans and were available for selfies.

The Bundesliga and German Cup champions are set to play K-League side Jeju on Tuesday in Seogwipo and will then fly to Hong Kong for a match on Friday against England's Aston Villa.

"Everywhere we train and play, wherever fans are present, we will go and sign autographs," Neuer was quoted by the club website as telling South Korean media.

"But even though we really appreciate that, we're not doing the tour just for the fans. We're also doing it for ourselves because we're in pre-season preparing for the season. We also have important matches against Jeju and later in Hong Kong against Aston Villa. We approach this with 100% commitment and discipline."

The travelling squad includes Konrard Laimer, Josip Stanisic and Luis Díaz who missed a training camp earlier in the week but have now completed their post-World Cup holidays.

Newely-signed Ismael Saibari, Serge Gnabry, Lennart Karl and Jamal Musiala stayed in Munich to recover from injuries and in Musiala's case from minor ankle surgery.

England captain Harry Kane and France players Michael Olise and Dayot Upamecano will start their pre-season next week after featuring in the World Cup match for third place two weeks ago.

Bayern start the season on August 22 with the German Super Cup match against Borussia Dortmund. They open the Bundesliga season six days later against VfB Stuttgart.