Arsenal are looking at young Brazilian star Malcolm as the potential replacement for Alexis Sanchez, who is soon closing in on a deal to join one of the Manchester clubs. While the Gunners see the 20-year-old as a coveted addition in their attack, his current team, Bordeaux, are insistent on not selling.
Leadership from the Ligue 1 side maintain that they won’t be doing any business of this sort during this January transfer window.
ESPN FC published a couple bold quotes from club brass in a pair of French outlets:
“Malcom won’t leave,” Nicolas de Tavernost, head of M6, the TV channel that owns the Ligue 1 outfit, told L’Equipe on Sunday.
His comments echo those recently made by Stephane Martin, the Bordeaux president, who told L’Equipe that they “are not talking to anyone” and had laid down a “no departures” policy for the current transfer window.
This conversation makes it sound like any potential deal is dead, but that may not be the case. The Daily Mirror gives a different spin, saying that the north London side are still keen on the man who’s full name is Malcom Filipe Silva de Oliveira. The Mirror claims that:
“the 20-year-old has been on the radar of many a top European club, but it is Arsenal who have stolen a march and who look likely to complete a £35m deal this week.”
Any Malcolm deal seems to be contingent of course on the completion of an Alexis Sanchez sale, which may or may not hinge on a Henrikh Mkhitaryan transfer. Thus, you have at least three players and four teams involved in this situation, which certainly has many dominoes that could fall.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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