Report: West Ham backed away from Ruslan Malinovskyi move over price

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West Ham backed away from a late move for Ruslan Malinovskyi after Atalanta set an asking price of £43.4 million for the 29-year-old, according to a report from Calciomercato.

Malinoyskyi was heavily linked with a move to the Premier League in the summer. The Ukraine international has been superb during his time in Serie A, producing 46 goal involvements in 106 games.

And it seems that he came close to securing a deal. In fact, reports claimed that he gave the green light to a move to Tottenham. However, it seems that talks over a fee came to nothing.

It has been suggested that he dreams of joining Antonio Conte’s side. But there was potentially an opportunity to move elsewhere in the capital before the deadline passed.

Calciomercato reports that West Ham, along with Nottingham Forest and Marseille, made a move in the summer. However, they then backed away over Atalanta’s eye-watering £43 million asking price.

West Ham backed away from Malinovskyi move

Malinovskyi has been outstanding with Atalanta. However, his contract with Gian Piero Gasperini’s men expires next year. And he will have turned 30 by the end of the season.

Obviously, any foreign clubs can agree a pre-contract deal with Malinovskyi in January. So perhaps West Ham felt that they would be better off waiting before making their approach.

It is clearly a gamble to let Malinovskyi’s contract run down further. Just because he will potentially move on a free does not necessarily mean that a future deal will come cheap.

But Atalanta were obviously doing what they needed to to make sure that Malinovskyi went nowhere in the summer. They know that they are probably in danger of missing out on a considerable fee.

West Ham made the right call not meeting Atalanta’s demands. But he is an ‘extraordinary‘ talent. So if would be no surprise if they were waiting in the wings to make a future move.