• Arkadiusz Milik flew from Marseille on Thursday to join Turin, where he is on loan with the option to buy from Juventus.

  • The Polish striker scored 30 goals in 55 games during his time with Olympique de Marseille, without imposing himself in the Sampaoli system or in the hearts of the supporters.

  • The lack of confidence of the coaches in their striker, but also the strong popular pressure on the position of number 9 at OM, explains the difficulties of winning in Marseille for a striker.

Arkadiusz Milik and Olympique de Marseille, already ancient history.

A year and a half after his arrival, the Polish striker is already leaving Marseille to join Juventus Turin where he is on loan, with an option to buy.

Pablo Longoria's "good move" in the winter of 2021 returns to Italy with a record of 30 goals in 55 games in all competitions.

"It's still not bad in terms of the number of goals scored, there are a lot of attackers who haven't managed to do the same," said former OM coach Elie Baup.

But the Polish striker never imposed himself in Jorge Sampaoli's system, nor in the hearts of the supporters.

Like many others, since OM have been looking for their famous "grantatakan".

Coach's confidence

“You are dependent on the coach, and for me Milik is made to play two in front with another.

Except that he often played alone up front, and Sampaoli also preferred to line up a false 9, as he did with Payet.

Milik has not always been put in the right conditions, while a number 9 works a lot on trust, ”said the former OM coach.

At another level, Valère Germain, who has always had the same preference for playing two up front as evidenced by his successful season in Monaco, has rarely evolved in this pattern in Marseille.

Elie Baup takes the example of André-Pierre Gignac, when he played under his orders at OM: “The attackers have more or less slack periods.

Gignac I trusted him, and even when the critics came back, I maintained him and thanks to this confidence he was able to overcome all that.

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popular pressure

A lack of confidence, and hooked atoms between the attacker and his player, but also tenfold popular pressure.

"The striker symbolizes attacking play, and the motto 'Straight to the goal', so there is clearly some form of pressure from the stands," recalls the former coach.

"Aren't we overdoing it a bit with the wish to have a scorer with 30 goals when there aren't just that many?

Milik has never scored so many in a season, even when he was at his peak at Ajax he peaked at just over 20 goals per season.

Alexis Sanchez has just arrived and the fans are waiting for him to score 30 goals, except that it won't be the case, ”wonders Najet Rami, historic OM supporter.

In “recent” history, only Drogba peaked at more than 30 goals during his season at OM, while players like Mamadou Niang, André-Pierre Gignac or Bafetimbi Gomis were “satisfied” with around twenty goals per season.

And for Drogba or Mamadou Niang, the expectation was not the same.

“During Drogba's time, the fans expected a lot more from Mido.

When Mamad' arrived, there weren't great expectations for him either.

It was also very difficult for Jean-Pierre Papin in his early days, ”recalls Elie Baup.

JPP scored 14 goals in his first season with OM, before reaching 38 in his two best seasons and winning the Ballon d'Or with OM.

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