Olympique Marseille have joined the race to acquire Arkadiusz Milik from Napoli, as first reported by Gazzetta dello Sport over the weekend and confirmed today by coach André Villas Boas: “We are interested in him, but the talks are not in advanced stages. Nothing will happen in the next few days. We just inquired about him. He is not our only option.”
The Italian outlet informed that the French club, like Atletico Madrid few days ago, offered around €6M for the Polish striker. Napoli consider the bid too low and are asking for €15M despite his expiring contract. Gazzetta added a tidbit saying that, given the previous intense courtship, it seems inevitable that Milik will join Juventus for free in the summer unless he finds a new home in January.
In the meantime, Corriere Dello Sport reported that the dispute between the club and the player could spill over to the courtrooms if he does not leave during the Winter: Napoli could sue the striker for image rights infringement due to an unauthorized commercial about his restaurant in Katowice, the forward because he is the only player in the roster whose October wages have yet to be paid, as the salaries were diluted because of the pandemic.
Before Sunday’s game against Cagliari, the director Cristiano Giuntoli stated: “We are aware that his representatives are talking with other teams, we hope they can find a solution that could satisfy us as well.”