Italian football journalist James Horncastle has issued an update about the situation of Tottenham Hotspur target Arkadiusz Milik.
Horncastle was recently a guest on the latest episode of the ‘Totally Football Show’ podcast, where he answered a question pertaining to Milik’s situation at Napoli. He confirmed that Spurs are interested in the Pole, as are Juventus.
Gianluca di Marzio had recently reported that Tottenham are interested in signing the Partenopei forward, but the Serie A side have reportedly demanded Lucas Moura in exchange for the former Ajax player.
While talking about Milik’s situation at Napoli, Horncastle said: “Napoli have just extended Dries Mertens’ contract. They signed Andrea Petagna in January to come in this summer from SPAL. So they’ve already got two strikers, they’re signing [Victor] Osimhen. Where does that leave Arkadiusz Milik, who’s got a year left on his contract?
Does it make sense for Spurs to sign Milik?
Yes, we should sign him
No, that will be pointless
“It looks like Milik is on his way out. There is interest from Juventus, there is interest from Tottenham. And the other thing is, Rino Gattuso has been very clear that 75% of the team will still be in place next year. The other 25% is Milik and let’s see what happens with Kalidou Koulibaly as well.”
In some ways, Horncastle sounds pretty confident that Milik, who is valued at £28.8 million (Transfermarkt), could indeed leave this summer and he also goes on to confirm interest from Jose Mourinho’s men.
TIF Thoughts…
Horncastle’s words could please many Spurs fans. Milik has always had a goals-per-90-minutes ratio of at least 0.63 in his Serie A career. This season has seen the 26-year-old find the back of the net 13 times in 28 games in all competitions for Napoli.
However, as per Understat, this season has seen Milik underperform on his expected goals ratio (xG) for the first time in his Napoli career. This could be a sign of the fact that Spurs could be looking at a player who isn’t as good as he used to be in the past.
Besides this, Spurs have Harry Kane in their ranks to play as their regular striker. Like Milik, Kane is also 26. Youngster Troy Parrott has also done well for the junior Spurs sides this season and as a result, he’s already made his first-team debut for Tottenham.
Therefore, it could be argued that Milik could block Parrott’s progress in the first team and because of Kane, the Pole might not get regular first-team football. So signing him may not make much sense for Spurs or the player himself.