The departure of 'Arek' comes with a certain sense of waste, as the centre-forward's transfer in January 2021 on loan (with an option to buy) from Napoli had raised high hopes Marseille side.

In desperate search for a "great striker" since its takeover in 2016 by the American billionaire Frank McCourt, OM believed to have finally unearthed the rare pearl with the Polish international (28 years old) after being misguided with Mitroglou, Germain , Balotelli or Benedetto.

But Robert Lewandowski's teammate in the selection ended up paying for the chronic instability in which Marseille struggles despite a good second place in the league won behind PSG and a direct ticket to the lucrative Champions League.

His stats aren't in question.

In 55 games played in the Olympian jersey, in all competitions, Milik has scored 30 goals, a more than honest ratio for N.9.

A complete centre-forward, with a nice left foot and an above-average heading game, he had everything to succeed at OM despite a somewhat fragile physique.

But the player, who notably passed through Bayer Leverkusen and Ajax Amsterdam before landing in Naples, was never in the small papers of Jorge Sampaoli, appointed coach in March 2021, often content to play the utilities in the Cup from Europe.

cash needs

Ignored by the Argentine technician, who was not crazy about pure N.9s and often preferred Dimitri Payet to him, Milik saw with relief the former coach of Chile and Albiceleste throw in the towel this summer, unhappy with the ambitions of its direction in the transfer market.

But it was ultimately the club's cash needs that brutally cut short his stay in France.

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The formula built with Juventus is however not particularly profitable for OM with a paying loan which will be between 900,000 euros and 1.7 million euros depending on various bonuses, then a purchase option of seven million euros, which can go up to nine million, again depending on bonuses.

But with a salary estimated at 400,000 euros gross monthly, very heavy for training in the sights of UEFA's financial fair play, the Pole was gently pushed towards the exit while OM bet big on the Chilean Alexis Sanchez to animate his offensive sector.

After being established during the first two days of Ligue 1 by Igor Tudor, Sampaoli's successor, Milik thus found himself on the sidelines for Sanchez's big first in the starting lineup against Nantes (2-1) , Saturday at the Vélodrome, and did not even come into play.

At Juve, coach Massimiliano Allegri has long dreamed of Memphis Depay to find an attacking alternative to Dusan Vlahovic.

But in the absence of an agreement with the Dutchman, the Bianconeri leaders fell back on the Pole who has the advantage of knowing Serie A well.

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Milik needs playing time with a view to the World Cup (November 20-December 18) and for lack of guarantees in Marseille, he preferred to leave the Olympian ship to arrive in the best possible conditions for the major planetary event scheduled for this autumn in Qatar.

© 2022 AFP