Tottenham Hotspur have received a big boost in their pursuit of Ruslan Malinovskyi...

What's the word?

According to Italian outlet Corriere Bergamo, Ligue 1 outfit Marseille have dropped out of the race to sign the 30-year-old midfielder after the player made it clear that he favoured a move to Spurs.

Sergio Reguilon could be offered in some sort of swap deal, though Atalanta values the Ukraine international at €20m (£17m).

Premier League rivals Nottingham Forest recently saw a €15m (£12.7m) bid rejected by La Dea for Malinovskyi and it remains to be seen whether they will launch another move.

Conte will be buzzing

This latest update should leave manager Antonio Conte absolutely delighted as one of their rivals in the hunt for the Ukraine star has dropped out of the running and not only that, the player wants to come to north London too.

Malinovskyi would offer the Italian a superb depth option in midfield and perhaps something they are lacking.

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After providing Atalanta with ten goals and seven assists last campaign, it's clear that the 5 foot 11 maestro is capable of adding threat from midfield in the final third.

Spurs have missed that sort of presence ever since Christian Eriksen left Hotspur Way for Conte's Inter Milan in January 2020. The Dane delivered a goal or assist every 151 minutes for the club and nobody has been able to match that since.

During his time in Bergamo, Malinovskyi - once dubbed a "playmaker" by Evening Standard journalist Simon Collings - has scored or assisted every 114 minutes, which for someone entering their thirties is pretty respectable indeed.

As per FBref, the former Genk star has also averaged 0.32 expected assists and 4.99 shot-creating actions per 90 over the last year, which ranks him amongst the top 5% and 7% of fellow attacking midfielders and wingers across Europe.

This is surely the sort of player that Conte would love to have at Spurs right now, having struggled to break down Wolves this weekend. Their only big chance created resulted in the game's only goal as neither of his starting midfield duo of Rodrigo Bentancur and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg managed to provide a key pass, via SofaScore.

With only Spurs now in the race for Malinovskyi, sporting director Fabio Paratici must push ahead to try and seal him before it's too late, with less than ten days left in the summer transfer window.

AND in other news, Levy's £22m transfer mistake over "fantastic talent" is coming back to haunt Spurs...