Ruslan Maliovskyi, who completed a switch to Marseille earlier this week has hinted that a move to the Premier League was never really an option for him.
A whole host of publications had reported on Tottenham’s interest in Malinovskyi right from last summer’s transfer window, with Italian outlets claiming at the time that the North London club were batting Marseille for the attacking midfielder’s signature (TuttoAtalanta).
The 29-year-old ended up staying put in Bergamo in the summer and the speculation linking him with a move to Antonio Conte’s side re-emerged ahead of the January window.
In fact, Corriere della Sera even reported a fortnight ago that Spurs had launched a loan offer for the Ukrainian with an option to buy, which would become an obligation if certain conditions are met.
However, it was Marseille who won the race for Malinovskyi, with the Ligue 1 club confirming on Monday that they had agreed on an initial loan deal for the Atalanta star with an option to buy.
The midfielder has now suggested that the Ligue 1 side were the only ones who showed concrete interest in him and insisted that ‘he never had doubts’ about moving to the Stade Velodrome.
Malinovskyi told RMC Sport: “Marseille were the most concrete offer. I never had doubts. I was spoken about in England, but it wasn’t concrete. I thought I would arrive here in August, so I followed the team a lot and I like what they’re doing a lot.”
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Despite some reports from Italy suggesting otherwise, it was always clear that Spurs viewed Malinovskyi as a potential fallback option rather than as one of their primary attacking targets, despite the midfielder seemingly being keen on a switch to North London.
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