The first buy of the summer already has a locker at the Allianz Stadium.
Arek Milik’s arrival at Juventus early into the 2022-23 season didn’t result in bombastic headlines or anything close to it. He was not a big-money arrival by any means, with a loan deal sort of a “prove it” kind of move considering that the club he had been at the previous 18 months, Marseille, were happy to let him leave.
Ten months later, Juve are happy to keep him around a little while longer.
Juventus announced Wednesday that they have made Milik’s loan move into a permanent one, agreeing to a deal with Marseille that could be worth up to €7 million total. The initial transfer fee will be €6.3 million with another €1.1 million in appearance-related bonuses. This is just ahead of the deadline that Juventus had to make the deal permanent at the end of the month, with the 29-year-old Milik signing a shiny new contract through 2026.
Here are the official details of the deal, courtesy of Juventus’ press office:
Turin, 21 June 2023 – Juventus Football Club S.p.A. has exercised the option right for the definitive acquisition of the registration rights of the player Arkadiusz Krystian Milik from Olympique de Marseille for a consideration of € 6.3 million, payable in three years starting from July 2023. The consideration may increase up to additional € 1.1 million on achieving given conditions over the course of the duration of the contract.
Juventus and the player have signed a contract of employment until 30 June 2026.
Milik spent a season and ha half in France with Marseille before moving to Juventus on loan at the beginning of the 2022-23 campaign. That comes after four seasons with Napoli in which he hit double-digit goal totals in his final two years in Naples before moving to Ligue 1.
This past season for Milik was truly a tale of two halves.
He arrived as a player who was expected to be a role player behind the new No. 9 on the roster, Dusan Vlahovic. Before too long, Milik was starting alongside Vlahovic and playing much, much more than any of us even thought was possible for somebody coming off an up and down tenure with Marseille. For the first couple of months leading into the World Cup break, Milik was making Juve’s decision to bring him in as a low-cost option look quite good. But with the new came both injury and a drop off in form that saw the goals dry up and the empty performances essentially resemble those of the Juve attack as a whole.
Milik scored just one goal in his final 17 appearances in all competitions of the season, a span of time that goes all the way back to late January.
In total, Milik scored seven goals in 27 Serie A appearances spanning nearly 1,600 minutes.
What Milik’s role come the 2023-24 season is still very much a question mark on this point considering who may or may not be leaving Juventus over the next six weeks. As a depth option, having Milik around makes a whole lot of sense. But if Milik is going to be starting more games than he doesn’t, then that’s where Juve could be in trouble — and would likely be a sign that the guy who he was originally brought in to back up is probably not around anymore.
That very much remains to be seen. For now, though, we know this: Milik is a Juventus player and 100% that. No more loan. It’s permanent now.
Source: SB Nation
