TOTTENHAM are reportedly stepping up their pursuit of Atalanta midfielder Ruslan Malinovskyi.
Spurs boss Antonio Conte has gone on record as saying he wants to add to his squad in the January window after a couple of poor results in recent weeks.
And Ukraine international Malinovskyi has been linked with a move to North London.
According to Il Giorno, Tottenham have now made contact with Atalanta’s head of recruitment, Lee Congerton, over a possible deal.
It comes as the 29-year-old searches for more game time having started just four of the Serie A side’s 12 league matches so far this season.
And the report states he would only set the Lilywhites back around £13million.
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But other Premier League clubs are also thought to be monitoring his situation.
Nottingham Forest and West Ham are among the English teams keeping tabs on Malinovskyi.
Spurs have been criticised for failing to control games in the middle of the park, while also lacking creativity in central areas.
And Malinovskyi could provide that, with the former Shakhtar Donetsk star boasting 30 goals and 27 assists in 139 matches since joining Atalanta in 2019.
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He has also been capped 51 times for Ukraine, bagging seven goals.
Atalanta are not currently offering their players any form of European competition after they finished eighth in Serie A last season.
Meanwhile, Spurs could still be in the Champions League come the new year, but that will depend on whether they can avoid defeat in Marseille on Tuesday evening.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
