FC Barcelona, Spain’s premier soccer club, completed the signing of 21-year-old Brazilian winger Malcom from French club Girondins de Bordeaux.
The signing cost the Blaugrana $48m with the player signing a four-year contract. His ambition, aside from winning trophies, is “to follow in the footsteps of the great Brazilians who have played at this club”, referring to Romario, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, and Neymar Jr. among others.
Presented at Nike HQ in Portland, Oregon, Malcom is linking up with the rest of the FC Barcelona squad as they prepared for a pre-season friendly against English Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur.
Based in the capital city of Catalonia, Barcelona moved swiftly when talks to sign Chelsea midfielder Willian broke down at the last minute. Malcom was already en route to fly to Italy ahead of signing for AS Roma.
However, Barcelona’s interest scuppered that deal and Malcom flew to Spain instead.
It’s left the Italian giants fuming and threatening all manner of legal action against both player and Bordeaux. The Giallorossi are “considering all their options” according to sporting director Monchi.
“It is true that nothing was signed,” – he went on. “But there are many messages with the agents and [Bordeaux] president that are at least worth being assessed.”
