On the most recent edition of The Phil Hay Show, Leeds United journalist Phil Hay discussed all the latest news concerning the Whites and he spent some time talking about Atalanta’s Ruslan Malinovskyi.
Leeds have been linked with Udinese’s De Paul of late, with the Argentine midfielder seemingly confirming his interest in joining his compatriot Marcelo Bielsa at Elland Road.
However, his current club’s technical director, Pierpaolo Marino, has also shared that he is hopeful the 26-year-old will stay at Udinese, as the Yorkshire club are yet to meet their valuation of De Paul, who is said to be valued at around £32 million for the Dacia Arena-based club.
During this recent edition of The Phil Hay Show, Hay was asked: (33:58) “If not De Paul, then who?” With regard to the Whites’ pursuit of a central midfielder and the journalist claimed that £18.9m-rated Malinovskyi “is on the list” as a potential alternative to De Paul.
He said: “Malinovskyi is on the list – Ukrainian midfielder over at Atalanta, and by all accounts, a very good one. Certainly, what I’ve seen of him, I do like him.
“I like him on the ball and he seems like somebody who would fit, but at this stage, [there’s] nothing formal there and no concerted bid, but he is somebody they could go for and somebody they would think about. They would like another ‘number 8’ in.”
“So yeah, Malinovskyi, certainly one to keep an eye on and they will go for somebody in that position if they can.”
Will you be happy if Leeds sign Malinovskyi?
YES
NO
TIF Thoughts…
Judging by Hay’s comments, it seems that while the Whites are yet to actually launch a bid for Malinovskyi, he is an option they are considering should they be unable to sign De Paul.
Both of these midfielders played in Serie A last term, with De Paul earning an overall WhoScored rating of 7.25 from his 34 appearances in Italy’s top-flight, which is more impressive than Malinovskyi’s overall WhoScored rating of 7.00 from his 34 appearances in Serie A in the 2019/20 campaign.
However, as per WhoScored, De Paul only managed to make two more goal contributions (13) than Malinovskyi (11) despite playing over 1300 more league minutes than the Atalanta man, so if the Whites are hoping to add an offensive threat to their midfield, we feel it’s understandable why Malinovskyi would be on their list, as Hay has claimed, and it will be interesting to see if they do go on to make an approach for the player.