Why Tottenham Should Beat Man Utd To The Signing of Malcom
Tottenham Hotspur are strongly interested in signing Brazilian winger Malcom, who plies his trade for French Ligue 1 side Bordeaux, according to Sky Sports. Fellow Premier League outfit Manchester United have also been heavily linked with a move for the player in the winter window and as per reports, they have already opened talks with the French outfit over a potential move.
Tottenham’s current campaign hasn’t been the most ideal. Having finished as runners-up last season, the North Londoners were expected to go one step further and put on a strong challenge for the title. However, at the turn of the year, they find themselves at 6th place in the Premier League table with 37 points from 20 games – a whopping 22 behind leaders Manchester City and 4 behind Liverpool, who occupy the final UEFA Champions League qualification spot.
While Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min have been delivering the goods consistently, the likes of Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen have struggled to find that element of consistency this term, which has been a cause of concern for manager Mauricio Pochettino.
This has left him looking at options to bolster his ranks ahead of the second half of the campaign. He seems to have identified Malcom as the man to provide his side with an additional thrust in the final third for the business end of the season. The highly-rated 20-year old Brazilian winger burst on to the scenes back in 2015 with homeland club Corinthians, when he scored 5 goals in 29 games as his club went on to win the title under current Brazil manager Tite.
French side Bordeaux snapped him up in January 2016 and Malcom has continued to produce good numbers season after season. Last term, the Brazilian managed 9 goals and 7 assists in 45 games across all competitions and has already netted 7 goals and has 5 assists in 20 appearances in the ongoing season, across all competitions.
Blessed with a tremendous amount of pace and energy, coupled with great dribbling ability, Malcom has been used in the wide areas, where he can utilise his abilities to the fullest and stretch the opposition defence. The 20-year old can also operate through the middle if needed and has shown a keen eye for goals in his fledgeling career.
With Erik Lamela just returning from a year-long layoff and Eriksen not performing to his fullest in recent games, it becomes imperative for Tottenham to strengthen their wide areas – something which Pochettino has been trying to do since the summer of 2016. Signing Malcom would go a long way in helping them to address that area of the pitch. With his pace, flair and directness, the 20-year old will add an extra dimension to the Tottenham forward line and will make them a bigger threat to the opposition.
With their Champions League qualification for the next season on the line, along with their progression to the next rounds of this year’s competition, Spurs need to add more firepower to their attack and Malcom would represent the ideal solution for them, which is why the Lilywhites should do everything in their power to snatch him up, ahead of Jose’s Manchester United.