Tottenham and West Ham United could miss out on Arkadiusz Milik as the Napoli striker agrees terms over a potential move to Juventus, according to Calciomercato.
While the vultures Bayern Munich are derided across Germany for picking the bones of their Bundesliga rivals, from Werder Bremen to Dortmund, Juve are no strangers to these ‘hobbling’ tactics either.
After raiding a once exciting, up-and-coming Roma side for Miralam Pjanic and Mehdi Benatia, the Old Lady scuppered Napoli’s Scudetto hopes by luring Gonzalo Higuain to Turin in controversial circumstances.
Four years on, Juventus look set to repeat the trick.
According to reports in Italy, Poland international Milik has agreed a contract until 2024 or 2025 at the reigning Serie A champions, just a month after scoring the winning penalty in the Coppa Italia final victory over Maurizio Sarri’s side.
There is still work to be done, however.
Napoli want £35 million for Milik, putting the former Ajax youngster up for sale after he rejected a new contract. Juventus, though, will not pay top dollar for a striker who will be a free-agent in 12 months’ time.
But the phrase ‘delaying the inevitable’ comes to mind.
Player power rules in this day and age and Napoli will know, in their heart of hearts, that the chances of Milik leading the line for a Serie A rival next season are growing by the day.
Tuttomercatoweb reported last week that West Ham were interested, while Jose Mourinho had identified Milik as the man capable of easing the goalscoring burden on Harry Kane at Spurs (Goal).
With all due respect to two London giants, Milik appears to be heading for bigger and better things.
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