Longoria reveals behind the scenes of Malinovskyi’s arrival

In the press room, Pablo Longoria revealed the path which had enabled him to obtain the signature of Ruslan Malinovskyi. The president of OM proved to be tenacious, while the situation seemed complicated at times.

Facing the press, Pablo Longoria explained how he managed to obtain the signature of Ruslan Malinovskyi. The Spaniard hung on: “Behind the scenes of a transfer, sometimes it’s curious. The first time I spoke directly with his entourage was in January 2021 when Morgan Sanson had the opportunity to go to Aston Villa. It was the first approach, Atalanta had said no. I also remember a day this summer. We were talking about different players and Ruslan’s agent had written us a message. It was his agent who told us about this possibility. It was a time when there was change at Atalanta, which was partly bought out. It didn’t work”he told the journalists present.

“It accelerated with the sale of Gerson”

Pablo Longoria never gave up and it ended up paying off. The departure of Gerson to Flamengo made it possible to finance the arrival of the Ukrainian international. “In recent weeks, we have kept in touch with the entourage and Atalanta. We have a very good relationship with Atalanta. It accelerated with the sale of Gerson”he continued.

Ruslan Malinovskyi has so far only spent half an hour under the Marseille tunic, in Troyes. The midfielder will certainly have more time to show himself on Saturday against Lorient. The player should gradually find the rhythm, while Gian Piero Gasperini has not given him much playing time at Atalanta in recent months. The Ukrainian has started only 5 times in Serie A, for a total of 15 appearances. However, he is not out of shape since, like OM, the Bergamo club carried out extensive preparations during the autumn with a view to the resumption of the Italian championship.