In a recent report, The Daily Mail claimed that West Ham United are facing stiff competition for Atalanta playmaker Ruslan Malinovyski. It has been revealed that the Hammers will have to rival Tottenham Hotspur in the race to acquire the services of the Ukraine international.
Malinovskyi’s Up And Down Season In Italian Football
The 29-year-old has experienced an inconsistent campaign with Atalanta so far but deserves credit for putting in some impressive displays for them in the opponent’s half. Malinovyski has been involved in 14 league matches this season, scoring one goal and picking up two assists across multiple competitions.
The Zhytomyr-born talent has proven his worth at times by averaging 1.0 tackles, 1.4 shots, 0.9 key passes and 0.5 dribbles per game in Serie A. He has even been tidy when distributing possession in the final third after completing 79.5% of his attempted passes in the Italian first division (stats via whoscored).
Malinovyski is under contract at Atalanta until the summer of 2023. Hence, the Hammers will have a good shot at landing him for a cut-price fee this month if they can fend off competition from Spurs for his services.
Should West Ham United Snap Malinovskyi Up This Month?
Malinovskyi can get stuck in with some solid tackles to make life difficult for the opposition at the centre of the park. He is proficient at creating space for himself to get a few strikes in at goal and has got the vision to cut open the opposition defence with a killer pass in the final third. The Ukraine international is primarily an attacking midfielder but can also operate as a box-to-box midfielder or as a secondary striker if asked to do so.
At the moment, Malinovskyi is serving as a decent squad player at Atalanta. Hence, we can expect him to play a similar role at West Ham United if the London club can devise a way to get him on board before the end of this month.
At 29, Malinovskyi is playing some of his best football and might still have a few good years left in his locker to play at a high level. Hence, he will be a good choice for the Hammers to pursue during this January transfer window.
Malinovskyi is good enough to improve the overall quality of West Ham‘s squad at the London Stadium. Therefore, the East London giants would be wise to engineer a move to snap him up this winter.
