Marseilles (AFP)
Finally a big N.9 in Marseille?
By announcing the arrival of the talented Polish striker from Naples Arkadiusz Milik on Thursday, OM managed a very nice shot in the transfer window, even if the player's form is uncertain and that he alone will not be able to revive a drifting team.
Since the acquisition of the club by Frank McCourt in the fall of 2016, OM have been looking for a high-level center-forward, capable of pulling the team to the top and igniting their public.
This quest, futile so far, has taken over the mercatos an almost tragicomic turn, summed up by a now famous neologism: Marseille is looking for a "grantatakan", but does not find him.
Milik, who is 26 years old, will he be the one Mitroglou, Germain, Balotelli or Benedetto failed to be?
With nearly 50 goals and a dozen assists in four seasons in the Napoli jersey, the Pole has in any case the profile.
Complete center-forward, with a good left foot and an above-average head game, "Arek" is a priori an indisputable added value in the OM workforce, where the forwards, Benedetto, Germain or Aké, are struggling.
However, some doubts still surround this transfer, concluded according to several media on the basis of an 18-month loan with a call option estimated at eight million euros, plus four million possible bonuses.
The main question concerns the physical state of the player.
In conflict with Napoli, Milik has not played for a club all season.
Since August, he has only taken part in seven matches for the Polish side, for a total of 337 minutes and one goal.
- Signed Longoria -
In what state of form is it?
The Pole inevitably lacks rhythm, but OM, which remains on two humiliating defeats at the Vélodrome against Nîmes (2-1) and Lens (1-0), lacks time.
Milik is in any case qualified to play in Monaco on Saturday, for the 21st day of L1.
Marseille fans will also keep an anxious eye on the knees of the former Ajax Amsterdam player.
The one on the left let go in October 2016, when he had just made a thunderous debut with Naples, and the one on the right gave way a year later, in September 2017.
These two serious injuries are a real cause for concern but they did not stop the Pole, who returned to an excellent level during the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons, with respectively 20 and 15 goals in all competitions with Napoli.
While Benedetto is in the midst of a crisis of confidence and OM scores very little (26 goals in 19 L1 matches), the arrival of Milik therefore seems to be a big hit by the new sports director Pablo Longoria.
At a time when Marseille is booming, against the club, its president, its players and its coach, the Spanish leader has succeeded in what looks like a faultless since the start of the transfer window.
In 15 days, he managed to bring in a right-back (Lirola) to fill an obvious gap, to save part of the enormous salary of Strootman, who left on loan at Genoa, and to drive the hoped forward to the Vélodrome.
- Risks -
However, on paper, Milik evolves in spheres to which OM does not have access.
The list of recent contenders - Juventus, Roma or Atlético Madrid - attests to this.
But while some clubs may have been tempted to wait until June and the end of his contract, the Pole needed to play to go to the Euro.
By offering Naples a few million euros that the Italian club could not have claimed in June, Longoria and OM have therefore skillfully taken advantage of a narrow window of fire.
The bet was tempting.
With a reasonable financial effort, OM attracted a European-level striker, still young and therefore likely to both have a big impact on sport and ultimately generate potential economic added value.
But there are risks.
Marseilles finances are fragile and the large salary of the Pole (estimated at 400,000 euros gross) will weigh.
Then, the last matches showed that the current OM was in crisis in all lines and lacked everything, quality, ideas, character ... Milik will not be able to change everything.
But if he is the "grantatakan", he will undoubtedly have solved OM's biggest problem.
© 2021 AFP