Chelsea are lining up a move for Atalanta attacking midfielder Ruslan Malinovskyi, according to reports in the Ukrainian media.

The playmaker has been in excellent form this season, having scored nine goals and provided 12 assists in 41 appearances, contributing hugely to Atalanta’s rise to second in the Serie A table.

Malinovskyi is reportedly valued at around £20m by Atalanta, which is a figure that is unlikely to put off Chelsea, but the Blues’ interest in the Ukrainian international is a surprise, for a couple of different reasons.

The midfielder is not exactly a young player, having recently turned 28, while it can be argued that manager Thomas Tuchel already has a wealth of attacking midfielders available to him in his squad.

The London club’s focus for the summer transfer window is believed to be on signing a striker, as well as another centre-half, so you would have thought that pursuing a player like Malinovskyi would be quite a way down the list of priorities.