£12m man who wanted Tottenham move in January scores superb goal to knock PSG out of French Cup

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Tottenham came close to signing Ruslan Malinovskyi from Atalanta in the January transfer window.

The Athletic believe Fabio Paratici – Director of Football at Spurs – was keen to sign the Ukraine international, and the player himself was also interested in moving to north London.

However, Tottenham wanted an initial loan deal, whereas Atalanta were only willing to sell Malinovskyi on a permanent basis, and he eventually joined Marseille for just €13m (£12m).

Now, the 29-year-old has downed Paris Saint-Germain, the biggest side in France right now, to make some Tottenham fans surely feel a tinge of regret about missing out.

What’s the story?

Well, Malinovskyi scored a superb goal last night as Marseille stunned PSG in the Coupe de France.

The Ukrainian thumped in a 57th minute strike to put Marseille 2-1 up inside the Stade Vélodrome, his second goal in two games since joining the French giants.

You can see Malinovskyi’s excellent effort below.

In fairness to Tottenham, they still managed to add some strong options to their squad in Arnaut Danjuma and, especially, Pedro Porro, who should give them a new dimension down the right flank.

Nevertheless, it still feels as if Spurs missed out on a solid market opportunity with Malinovskyi for just £12m – especially given the fact he was interested in joining.

Malinovskyi may not have started for Tottenham

In truth, Malinovskyi may have just been a squad option under Antonio Conte – it feels unrealistic to say that he would’ve shoved Dejan Kulusevski or Heung-min Son out of the starting XI.

The Marseille No.18 definitely would have been a strong backup for the Sweden international, cutting inside from the right flank onto his stronger left foot, although with Spurs only willing to sanction a loan, you can understand why Danjuma was signed temporarily instead.

Hopefully – for Tottenham’s sake – Malinovskyi doesn’t keep his stunning form up, or questions will be asked in regards to why a permanent deal wasn’t pursued.