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It’s not everyday that Nottingham Forest and Tottenham are after the same player, but it was a scenario that took place over the summer regarding Ruslan Malinovskyi.

The Ukrainian footballer was someone both the Tricky Trees and Spurs were looking at to bolster their respective squads, joined by Marseille at one point as well.

It was made clear a number of times the attacking midfielder was favouring a move to Tottenham, but the transfer never materialised, forcing him to stay at Atalanta.

The 29-year-old has played, but nowhere near enough to consider him a regular starter, appearing in the first XI just four times from a possible nine games in Serie A, scoring one goal and picking up one assist.

Corriere di Bergamo look at his situation on Wednesday, explaining the Ukraine international is ‘not happy these days’ and is ‘not performing as one might expect’.

They suggest that ‘the transfer question’ from this summer, with Nottingham Forest, Marseille and Tottenham all keen, could be behind it, and the newspaper state that ‘at this point in January, a farewell, even on loan, to find more minutes, cannot be ruled out’.

For Corriere di Bergamo, one of either Malinovskyi or Jérémie Boga will leave the club, perhaps giving Spurs and Steve Cooper’s side a second chance at striking a deal for the Ukrainian.

That being said, it’s fair to say Tottenham have the better arguments these days, currently third in the Premier League and playing Champions League football, compared to Nottingham Forest, who sit 19th in the table after nine games and have no European football to offer.