Malcom can become a star at Barcelona

Brazilian Malcom is a potential future star, hence why Barcelona swooped to sign him ahead of Roma.

Bordeaux’s creative attacker Malcom found himself at the center of one of this summer’s biggest transfer sagas, as Roma announced his signing only to see the deal hijacked by Barcelona.  According to Goal.com, Barcelona will pay €38 million for the Brazilian, with a further €3 million in add-ons.

Malcom had previously been linked with Tottenham, Arsenal and Everton. Latterly, Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Inter Milan and PSG have all been rumored to be interested, but it announced his arrival on Tuesday.

He is yet to make an appearance for Brazil, but has played twice for their U-23 side and 13 times for their U-20s, and joined Bordeaux from Corinthians in January 2016. He has scored 20 times in Ligue 1 and assisted 13 goals in that time.

A stereotypical Brazilian

Tricky and with exceptional vision, Malcom is a typical Brazilian attacking midfielder who is also capable of playing out wide. He has a keen eye for goal, and takes free-kicks and corners with aplomb.

He’s surprisingly strong for such a slight figure, and gets around his lack of height by his twisting and turning on the ball with his remarkable close control.

His pace and acceleration with the ball at his feet are akin to fellow Brazilian Douglas Costa, and he’s not shy of shooting from distance, frequently finding the top corner with spectacular efforts.

It’s not only his speed that’s reminiscent of Juventus’ Costa: He often plays from the right and is predominantly left-footed, although at Bordeaux he had the freedom to roam a little and would regularly pop up all over the pitch wherever he started out.

Malcom’s close control and rapid one-twos often draw fouls from opposition defenders, and with better players around him, that will only increase. With Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez to bounce the ball off, his effectiveness will only improve.

Next: Why a move for Willian makes no sense for Barcelona.

Limitless potential

With stunning deftness of touch, speed of thought and weight of passing, Malcom could prove to be a bargain buy for whoever he ends up representing.

At the age of just 21, he has all the potential and the skills needed to become a top player. With respect to Bordeaux, he will only get better with better players surrounding him.

Barcelona now have two of the most promising 21-year-olds in the world on their hands in Malcom and Ousmane Dembele.