Ruslan Malinovskyi has returned to Italy with a £6 million move to Genoa 18 months after Tottenham Hotspur looked to bring the Ukraine international to the Premier League.
The sight of the experienced midfielder heading back to Serie A for £3 million less than Marseille paid for him a year earlier says a lot, really, about how things went for Ruslan Malinovskyi across the Channel in France.
Malinovskyi was linked heavily with a move to Tottenham Hotspur before putting pen to paper with L’OM, Antonio Conte’s side missing out both in January and during the previous summer. But it’s fair to say that, since leaving Atalanta, he’s done little to suggest he’d have been worth the £40 million investment.
Tottenham Hotspur wanted Ruslan Malinovskyi
“You know that Ruslan wanted to leave. The reality is that Ruslan wanted to leave and wanted to go to Tottenham,” Fabrizio Romano told Last Word on Spurs on YouTube.
“(Spurs) offered a loan with buy option. But (it was) only a verbal proposal because they knew, with Atalanta, it was impossible.
“Atalanta president (Luca Percassi) is in love with Ruslan. He said £40 million or nothing.”
Back in Serie A
With his contract expiring in the summer of 2023, however, Atalanta reluctantly accepted a cut-price bid from Marseille a year ago this month. And La Dea could find themselves coming up against a familiar face when Genoa arrive in Bergamo on February 9th, Malinovskyi returning to Italy with his tail between his legs after a short-lived spell at Marseille that will not have Tottenham fans feeling that they missed out.
Malinovskyi made only 13 Ligue 1 starts, scoring once and setting up just a single assist. His move to Genoa, meanwhile, is reportedly £34 million less than Atalanta were demanding from Tottenham just over a year ago.
Spurs, meanwhile, are expected to have a rather quiet deadline day. Radu Dragusin and Timo Werner have already arrived – the former from Malinovskyi’s new employers – with further deals for the likes of Dominic Solanke and Antonio Nusa seen as unlikely.
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