Tottenham Hotspur could wait until the January transfer window to revisit a deal for Ruslan Malinovskyi of Atalanta...

What's the word?

That's according to transfer insider Dean Jones, who revealed that the Ukraine international is "one to keep an eye on" heading into 2023 after the north London outfit failed to bring him to the club this summer.

He told GIVEMESPORT:

“Atalanta became quite stubborn over this one. Spurs, they had been looking into a loan deal for this, but they gave up on the idea because Atalanta just weren’t doing it and it clearly wasn’t going to happen. But that situation could easily change so it’s one to keep an eye on for January.”

Indeed, the Serie A side were reportedly looking for a fee of around £17m to let him go.

Dream signing for Conte

Whilst it would have been frustrating to not land him in their £120m-plus summer spending spree, Lilywhites chief Fabio Paratici should not give up on him as he'd be something of a dream player and signing for manager Antonio Conte.

The 29-year-old may be heading into his thirties before the end of the season but he's a more than capable machine, able to provide at both ends of the pitch.

For example, Malinovskyi provided La Dea with ten goals and seven assists in 2021/22, averaging one or the other every 134 minutes, and he has continued that form into the new season, where he has found the net once and laid on a further assist from six league appearances, per Transfermarkt.

The Atalanta star is adept at playing as both a no.6 and no.8 in the heart of midfield, as well as out wide, as a secondary striker or even up front, which would make him a hugely versatile plug-and-play option for Conte in his current Spurs setup.

"He’s a kind of Conte-type player, a hard worker. He can play in multiple systems," Express journalist Ryan Taylor once told GIVEMESPORT, whilst his wand of a left foot has been described as "stunning" and as a "cannon" in the past.

With Spurs coming away from the summer without that creative sort of maestro, it would make sense to target one in the winter and Malinovskyi certainly fits the bill, having averaged 5.98 progressive passes per 90, which sees him rank within the top 4% of his positional peers across Europe for the same metric.

Also per FBref, his statistical profile is akin to Chelsea star Mason Mount and Leicester City playmaker James Maddison, who both are hits in the Premier League, thus making the Ukraine gem an ideal fit for the big time.

As such, Paratici could well seal Conte his dream signing in the form of Malinovskyi this January transfer window.

AND in other news, Conte could unearth the next Pjanic by unleashing "high-level" £11k-p/w Spurs starlet...