OM have reached an agreement with Juventus for the loan with option to buy Arkadiusz Milik during the summer transfer window. The departure of the 28-year-old Polish striker is an economic but also a sporting choice.
The transfer of Arkadiusz Milik to Juventus (paid loan of 1 million euros + 7 million euros of non-compulsory purchase option) is debated among Marseille supporters. Some still saw in the Polish striker a great scorer, who could have regained his feelings this season. Others do not regret his departure and believe that OM have been patient enough with Arek Milik.
The choice to part ways with the Polish international is above all a financial decision. Milik earns about 400,000 euros gross per month, and OM had to save one of the big incomes of the workforce to reduce its payroll. Even if some were free or are only on loan for the moment, Marseille invested in a few confirmed players this summer, and therefore had to compensate for these arrivals by the departure of significant salaries from the workforce.
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Milik, a surface attacker above all
But this movement of the 28-year-old Pole is also explained by sporting considerations. The Marseille leaders have always seen in Milik the potential of a great striker, but above all that of a surface striker. This was the case with Jorge Sampaoli, and it could also have been with Igor Tudor.
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Arkadiusz Milik, despite his qualities as a finisher (when he is fit and confident), may find it more difficult to blend into a collective. OM, with players like Alexis Sanchez or Luis Suarez, have targeted attacking forwards constantly on the move, full of energy, capable of pressing the opposing team, of taking space.
If his income weighed less on the payroll, OM might have allowed themselves to keep Milik, to offer his coach and his workforce a different profile. But the need to save money forced OM to make a choice, that of letting him go.