Why Signing This £30 Million-Rated Brazilian Attacker Can Actually Benefit Manchester United
Manchester United are reportedly interested in a January swoop for Brazilian starlet Malcom, who currently plays as a forward for Ligue 1 side, Bordeaux. The youngster has attracted a lot of international attention for his stellar displays in the French league and the Red Devils are believed to be the front-runners to acquire his services.
Jose Mourinho is looking to splash £30million to sign Malcom once the winter transfer window opens. The amount might seem expensive for a player so young but the fact is that United could use a player like him and looking at his performances, it’d be safe to say that the 20-year-old is heading in the right direction.
Malcom joined Bordeaux only last year, from Brazilian club Corinthians and he has steadily risen through the ranks to establish himself as a regular for the side. In fact, in just a year, he has become a key figure in manager Jocelyn Gourvennec’s set-up and it could be tough to pry the player away from the French club. After all, he is their prized asset right now and if he were to leave mid-season, it would seriously affect their performances.
That said, a move to Old Trafford could truly boost Malcom’s personal career growth. Knowing Mourinho, he is likely to start him up slowly to allow him the time to establish himself and settle in. He did adapt quite quickly to the Ligue 1 and there is no reason why he cannot do the same in the Premier League as well. Also, since Mourinho is quite keen on adding attacking width to his squad, Malcom does seem like a viable option to consider.
He has scored 7 goals and 4 assists in 19 appearances for Bordeaux across all competitions. The player has even picked up 5 Man of The Match awards so far this season and that speaks volumes about the kind of power he could bring to United.
His biggest strength lies in his versatility and it is understandably a major part of the reason behind Mourinho’s interest in him. He can play in a variety of attacking midfield roles and his pace and trickery are delightful to watch. Despite being so young, he just knows how to get things going to sneak in a goal or two. If he were to join United, Mourinho could deploy him on the right and use either Anthony Martial or Marcus Rashford on the left.
With Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s inability to make an impact, Jesse Lingard has been deployed on the right on certain occasions but his performances have only garnered mixed reviews. Perhaps Malcom could be the one to truly provide the club with support in terms of attack but it remains to be seen if he actually completes the switch.