Tottenham Hotspur are in pole position to bring Ruslan Malinovskyi to the Premier League in the January transfer window.
What's the talk?
That's according to a report by Italian media outlet Sport Mediaset (via Sport Witness), who claim that Antonio Conte and Fabio Paratici are now in 'pole position' to land the Atalanta BC attacking midfielder in an €18m (£15.5m) deal this winter.
A further report by Calciomercato also claim that, after making exploratory contact for the 29-year-old in the summer transfer window, the Premier League side have a 'more concrete' chance of landing the Ukraine international in January.
Finally, Gazzetta dello Sport (via Sport Witness) reported on Monday that 'talks are expected' between Tottenham and Atalanta in the near future, before the Italian publication claimed that 'more will be known in the coming weeks'.
Dream Conte signing
Considering just how much Malinovskyi offers in an attacking capacity from the middle of the park, the argument that the 29-year-old would make a dream addition to Conte's current midfield options at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is an extremely easy one to make.
Indeed, while it is true that Rodrigo Bentancur has started chipping in with goals in recent weeks, in total, the Uruguayan, Pierre-Emile Höjbjerg, Yves Bissouma and Oliver Skipp have scored just seven goals and registered a further four assists over their combined 48 Premier League appearances so far this season.
In comparison, over Malinovskyi's 30 Serie A fixtures last time out, the £17.5m-rated talent bagged six goals, provided four assists and created 13 big chances for his teammates on his own, in addition to taking an average of 1.9 shots, making 1.5 key passes and completing 1.6 dribbles per game.
These returns saw the player who Carlo Garganese dubbed "unreal" average a simply sensational SofaScore match rating of 7.22, not only ranking him as Atalanta's second-best performer in the league but also as the joint 18th-best player in the top flight of Italian football as a whole.
Furthermore, with the £22k-per-week attacking midfielder also able to operate on the left wing and as a left or right wing-back, Malinovskyi could easily fit into either of Conte's 3-4-3 or 3-5-2 tactical set-ups in north London.
As such, it is clear to see that the Ukrainian sensation would make an unreal addition to the 53-year-old manager's side in January, leading us to believe the news that Paratici is in pole position to seal a move for the 29-year-old is undoubtedly fantastic news for everyone involved with the Premier League side.