According to catalan media, FCB just hijacked Bordeaux’s Malcom from Roma, who literally had fans waiting for him at the airport yesterday. He’s our third 18/19 signing.

ORIGINS

Malcom was born in a very poor neighborhood in São Paulo in 1997, and differently from Kaka or Neymar, who were handed all kinds of help since a young age, had to fight hard to become an actual footballer.

His grandfather and his uncle were still playing in a simple grassless pitch when Malcom came around, and that was the same place the kid began to shine and get the attention from scouts.

He eventually made it into Corinthians when he was 11 years old (in a way, his career started pretty much the same way Gabriel Jesus’ did, he only happened to end up on a different club), but still had to face many adversities to “make it”.

Even though his father named him after Malcolm X (it’s common in Brazil to see kids registered with a way different spelling than the one the parents wanted…), he was raised by his mother, with the help of her parents.

So Malcom still learned a lot from his “peladeiro” (grassless pitch player) grandfather, who taught him to stay on his feet and not dive, and relied heavily on his own grandmother: life was so hard he couldn’t even make it to the actual Corinthians training sessions, no money for the bus whatsoever.

So his grandmother got a dozen of her own pans and pots, sold them to a scrapyard and gave the money to Malcom so he could afford to show up and train at Corinthians for another month.

Soon enough, he became the second youngest player to ever start for Corinthians, and played during their 2015 Brazilian League conquest.

STYLE OF PLAY

Malcom is a left footed right winger, with a low center of gravity, and good pace. He rarely gets dispossessed, likes to combine with both the CMs and the RB, and always looks to cut inside, be it to take a shot, or to assist a team mate.

His is not ambidextrous, and anyone who has seen his performances actually saw his is quite poor at using his right foot, which may be the reason he rarely actually tries to stretch play and beat the last man to make a cross.

His low center of gravity and pace allow him to beat markers easily, and he’s also great at fast transitions/counters. He does not try fancy dribbles often, and that, paired with the fact he always tries to combine with team mates, explain why he’s rarely dispossessed.

WHERE WILL HE FIT AT FCB?!

We now have two very young and talented RWs: Dembele and Malcom. But their actual styles could not be more different.

Dembele is actually ambidextrous, is faster than Malcom, and has no problem in looking to beat the FB to make the cross close to the end of the pitch. He’s also more gifted in actual 1×1 situations than Malcom, which gives us more width.

Malcom lacks the pace and the ambidexterity, but is way more creative (gave the same 87 keys passes MESSI did last season), and rarely loses the ball, being able to combine with whoever is closer to him and not waste an attacking chance.

So, while obviously there will be a “competition” between Dembele and Malcom (in case this board doesn’t sell the frenchman…), they would not be used on the same exact roles.

Dembele is clearly a better fit when the objective is to provide us with better width and to focus on counters, while Malcom is a better choice when the aim to keep possession and to create chances through combination.

THE MESSI QUESTION

While Messi has no problem playing with Dembele (just ask Chelsea), it’s hard to see Messi and Malcom playing together.

They roam the same area of the pitch, they both like to cut inside and retain possession. Were Malcom better suited to use his weak right foot and play as a classic winger, there would be no issue here.

But since his right foot is far from being his strong suit, we are actually getting a similar deal than Messi had in Argentina, regarding Dybala.

Will Messi be placed as an actual CM/midfielder and give the RW to Malcom? Doubt it. Keeping Messi away from the area, and with someone “on his way” is demented.

Will Messi play centrally, as a classic 10? While he thrives pretty much anywhere, it’s obvious Messi will suffer more if placed centrally, where the opposing teams will find it easier to contain him.

Or will Malcom be used as Messi’s “backup”, having more minutes in La Liga, and allowing Messi to rest for the UCL matches?

A POSITIVE, BUT STRANGE SIGNING

Malcom is really talented and has the potential to become a world class player. But given the reasons above , I can’t help but to find him a weird signing for us, on this very crucial summer.

While he may bring the best out of Dembele, they don’t actually play the same way.

While he may work well playing with Messi, we have never seen a left footed player, cutting inside from the RW, actually become a great partner to Leo. Not even Dybala, who is more experienced than both Dembele and Malcom.

So I can’t help but to fall back on the obvious: since 2015, when we last won the UCL, both Xavi and Iniesta left, and we never really signed a CM who would even begin to fill their shoes.

Arthur is here, but he is just as young as Malcom, and we shouldn’t expect him, by himself, to lead us to win the UCL again.

Spending 38mi euros on Malcom, when we just spent 140mi on Dembele (who barely played 14 matches last season) seems inappropriate right now. And even though having Dembele and Malcom give us tactical flexibility and even a way to “rest” Messi (in Malcom’s case), we still have two huge holes to fill in our midfield.

It looks to me like yet another signing we are making so this board makes its brazilian partners/agents happy, instead of being something that has been planned for a while and will actually make sense when we think of our actual needs for 18/19.