Renowned coach and expert Oleh Fedorchuk told us what he thinks about the prospects of Ukrainian midfielder Ruslan Malynovskyi at French side Marseille.
- Malinowski's last goal in France was in the first half of February. Ruslan is getting less and less playing time in Tudor's team. Did he make a mistake with the club?
- The Belgian club Genk is the only European club in Malinowski's career that has been a perfect fit for him. Both Marseille and Atalanta play too dynamic football for Ruslan. The Ukrainian lacks speed endurance, the ability to work in the press, and the quality of his selection is also lame. He would be better suited to teams that maintain a slower pace and pay more attention to ball control. Marseille have a lot of young and athletic players who push their opponents around, so Malinowski looks like a foreign body against them. This is the physiology of the midfielder, who is good at cannonballs, but not at running.
For a player in an attacking group, Ruslan has very few goals, only two. He has very few assists, which is nonsense for a midfielder. In France, the opponents quickly saw what a left-footed shot the Ukrainian has and tried to close his leg. The midfielder needs to show more variety in the final phases of the attack. He often tries to shoot on goal himself, even in situations where a good pass would be more appropriate.
- At Atalanta, Ruslan had quite strong championships in 20/21 and 21/22. But in the latter, the Ukrainian played less than a half, only 34 minutes on average per Bergamo match. However, Marseille did not do much better, with only 58 minutes on average and only one full match in Ligue 1. Why is Ruslan losing his status as a main player?
- In Italy, Ruslan's lack of flexibility in attack was also evident. The combination is still in its infancy, and he is already trying to shoot on goal. The Ukrainian sometimes acted like a forward where he should have been a midfielder. If Malinowski adds some game wisdom to his fierce strike, he will be better suited to the team game. And, as a result, he will get the ball more often and have more playing time.
At Atalanta, Ruslan's problems were also noticeable when the team switched to defence. He did not participate in the selection process well enough, and he lacked the stamina to be on a par with his teammates in the press.
The player spends only one and a half to two minutes of the game with the ball in 90 minutes. The rest of the time is running work. Custody, running, blocking, creating a passing line - all this makes up the team's game. When we see the best moments of the match, it seems to us that Ruslan is very successful on the ball. But the coach is also interested in the other 88 minutes of the match, in which the player creates an advantage for his team bit by bit.
It seemed to me that after Atalanta, Malinowski could have found another Italian club, just a lower level, from the middle of the table. Ruslan has already been adapted to local football, and there are plenty of teams in the Apennines that prefer unhurried football, which is suitable for the Ukrainian. I'm afraid that Marseille may be too much of a challenge for him. Needless to say, Tudor's team competes with PSG itself and has not yet lost its chances to become the French champion.
- Many people talk about the off-season factor. The Ukrainian had to join the Marseille squad right during the season. Did this create difficulties for him with adaptation?
- I don't think the summer pre-season will necessarily be the key to Malinowski's success. If he lacked chemistry with the team in France, he would have merged into the team better and better every month. Unfortunately, the situation is the opposite, as we can see. In February, Ruslan looked better than he does now. Most likely, the mistake was in choosing a club.
- For two transfer windows in a row, in the summer of 2022 and winter of 2023, many sources linked Ruslan to Tottenham in London. If the midfielder doesn't play in Marseille, will the English turn to his candidacy again?
- "Tottenham is much more of a Malinowski team. "Spurs play at an average pace, Harry Kane, for example, practically walks on the pitch. But the level of contracts offered by the London club is such that the British can invite players, let's be objective, better than our midfielder.
I would not overestimate Conte's attention. He probably follows dozens of players at the same time. He could be interested in Malinowski at some point, Ruslan played against Inter many times. But I would not overestimate this attention. They have never worked together, and I would consider the likelihood that the Italian will definitely make an interesting offer for the Ukrainian at his new club as purely theoretical.
- Malinowski is on loan until the summer with a mandatory purchase option. The media report that this option has already come into force, and the Ukrainian is already on a full contract with the club. But why don't the Marseille team announce this officially? Will Ruslan definitely start next season with the Provencals?
- It is not a fact that Ruslan will definitely start the next season in Marseille. For example, the fact that the midfielder missed the last game due to injury makes me doubt it. I don't know if it really happened. Unfortunately, we don't know all the details of the contract. Perhaps the buyout amount is tied to the Ukrainian's appearance in the squad.
- At his peak in 2021, Ruslan was valued at €30 million on the Transfermarkt website. But now it is almost half that, only 18 million. Is his attractiveness to football clubs really falling?
- There are at least three reasons for the decline in value. Firstly, his age - many experts consider 30 years to be the age after which a player is not expected to make a career leap. Secondly, Ruslan is spending less and less time on the pitch - both with Atalanta and now with Marseille. And thirdly, the midfielder has not yet figured out how to compensate for his decreased stamina with other qualities. If he improves his passing and participation in the team's combinations, the decline in value will not be as rapid.
Footballers over 30 have two main options for career development. The first is to move in the same championship to less ambitious clubs, from the middle or even the tail of the standings. And the second way is to move to non-football, but rich countries. These are usually Asian championships. Yarmolenko, for example, chose the UAE.
The career of a footballer is such that in 10-15 years you need to provide for yourself for the next decades. It's no secret that some players can change championships and even continents because of a contract amount that is 20% better than the previous ones. In Asia, local leagues are not intense, and a player can convert his name into a contract on decent terms. Turkey is also attractive to many, especially as it is practically a European country in terms of mentality.
- Many footballers whose careers have come full circle end up returning to their home countries, and even the clubs where they once started. Is it time for Malinowski to think about this?
- As they say, Ruslan did not have a love story with Shakhtar. After seasons on loan, the Orange and Blacks were disappointed in Ruslan and let him go to Zorya in 2014. I doubt that the midfielder dreams of a new contract with the Shakhtar.
Of course, it would be nice to see the star of Ukrainian football in the team of Polissia over time. The club still plays in the first league, although its budget is higher than that of many UPL teams. We know that the club's owner Butkevych, on the one hand, knows Ruslan and even keeps his autographed shirt as a souvenir, and on the other hand, that he sets out to raise the level of football in Zhytomyr region and bring leading local players to Polissia.
I took a small part in Ruslan's fate. I know his first coach, Serhii Zavalka, well, with whom we used to play in the same team. In 2010, Malinowski came to see me at Niva Vinnytsia. The club was playing in the First League at the time. The midfielder was only 17 years old, but Shakhtar did not believe in his development even then. And the midfielder was looking for options to continue his career.
"We both come from Zhytomyr region, and I immediately liked my countryman, even though he was almost a child at the time. He worked well with the ball, his actions showed his game intelligence. Malynovskyi was very serious beyond his years, a fan of the regime, game and domestic discipline. You could feel his character and willpower. All of these qualities helped Ruslan a lot, and I believe that he eventually squeezed the maximum out of his talent and physical attributes. Unfortunately, we didn't get to work together. I told Malinowski that at 17 years old he was not ready for the first league, he would be trampled on. The midfielder clearly lacked athleticism and endurance.
In the end, the Zhytomyr resident surprised many people. Almost no one saw much potential in him, but Ruslan managed to make his mark in European football.
Anton Terekhov