Depending on who you believe, Barcelona want €40m, €45m or €50m for Malcom.
Monday’s edition of Sport goes with the figure in the middle. Barcelona paid around €41m to Bordeaux for the player around a year ago, gazumping AS Roma in the process.
That they feel they can now make a profit on a player who got just 600 La Liga minutes last season is an indication of how the market is going. Still, it’s got to be unlikely that clubs are eager to satisfy their demands.
Everton and Arsenal have been those most linked, but Sport bring Tottenham Hotspur back into the equation.
They say Spurs ‘are thinking about’ meeting the €45m figure, which is hard to fully believe. Interest may be genuine, however, going in at what Sport say is the asking price seems very unlike Tottenham.
Sport believe there’s a ‘hurry’ to sell Malcom to the English market before the window closes next week. Inter Milan are also keen, but they want a loan with a purchase option, and the Catalan newspaper say that structure of a deal isn’t possible for Premier League clubs.
That’s because they’d find it hard to get the required number of points for a work permit, with the transfer fee being able to tip the balance. In theory there could be some truth in that, but there’s always the option of an individual appeal after the points stage.
Tottenham and others could provide a full transfer, and that’s what Barca want, despite the player’s agent being keen on an Italy move.
