Bharath Rammr
Bordeaux winger Malcom has become the latest target of Manchester United and Liverpool, according to press reports. However, the winger has denied any suggestion of an interest shown by these Premier League giants. After coming through the youth ranks at Corinthians, Malcolm moved to the French outfit Bordeaux only in January 2016. At 19 years of age, he has been showing tremendous potential in his first year in French league football. This seems to have been more than sufficient for the top clubs to show an interest in the player.
Malcolm was not expected to get much first-team action straightaway, but this has not been the case with the player making 40 appearances in all competitions. More importantly, he has been able to mature in the season with 24 league appearances and a decent return of four goals. However, the way he has implemented himself within the Bordeaux team even at this young age has caught the attention of United and Liverpool, who are expected to be in for young players in the upcoming the summer transfer window. The player, however, has claimed that he is not aware of the interest from the two clubs. He said:
“I don’t know anything about Liverpool or Manchester United. I’m very calm. I’m only thinking of Bordeaux today. I want to do my job well and give the French fans lots of joy.
“I will continue to work hard with my usual humility.”
Even though Manchester United have a relatively low average age, the club will be concerned about building for the future after bringing in experienced players like Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the last summer. Eric Bailly and Paul Pogba both arrived as 22-year-olds, but more names are needed for the squad that already has experienced names like Michael Carrick and Wayne Rooney on board. Liverpool, meanwhile are still looking to infuse quality into the team.
Even after a decent splurge in the summer, the club still remain far away from competing on all fronts. Liverpool looked like being title contenders in the first half of the season but fell through when 2 cup competitions came together at the same time. After being knocked out of the EFL Cup and the FA Cup, Liverpool only have to focus on the league.
At the other end of the scale, United are fighting on four fronts and this has led to a fixture pile-up. This led to United deciding to do away with the sales of Ashley Young and Wayne Rooney during January.
Malcolm is yet to make an appearance for the Brazilian national team, but he has featured for the under 20 level on 15 occasions. He recently made the progression to the under 23 squad and featured in two games for the team. After a poor first half to the season, Bordeaux are once again back on form and aiming for the top four.
