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Arsenal: All aboard the Malcom train, but don’t call it a bandwagon
By Josh Sippie
Arsenal nation is in a tizzy over Malcom’s potential move to North London, but while the train has left the station, it is certainly not a bandwagon.
Arsenal’s link to Malcom is picking up with the recent pictures of his agent(s) in London while the Brazilian himself was slapping another assist on his Ligue 1 tally.
In the process, Tottenham have supposedly dropped out of the running for the Brazilian, Arsene Wenger has admitted that Alexis Sanchez will only leave if a replacement can be attained and the Alexis-to-Manchester rumors are heating up like crazy.
The train has certainly left the station. And with a whole 17 days left to complete this move, it seems like it would take a colossal fudge up to mess it up now. Wenger didn’t wait until the final day and finally, finally, finally, we may be able to call a close to the Alexis saga.
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The Alexis Sanchez saga at Arsenal has been going for nearly a year now. One whole year of knowing that he has no intention of staying. One whole year of knowing that there was a player in the team that didn’t want to be there.
That’s what makes Malcom so exciting, but it’s only a piece of it. Gooners are usually highly critical of young signings being brought in to replace world-beaters, but for Malcom, we have seen a whole lot of nearly unanimous optimism.
Yet it’s hard to deny that not many people have seen him outside of a few games or some YouTube clips. But none of that is the point. None of that really matters. The excitement surrounding Malcom goes well beyond the man himself.
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It all starts with the Alexis saga finally coming to a close. Whoever, and I mean that, comes in to replace him is going to be welcomed because they automatically bring something the Chilean didn’t have – a desire to be at the club we all love.
Once you factor that in, there aren’t many players who we wouldn’t be excited to see coming into the club. And not just that, but no matter how much we criticize the transfer policy of Wenger, it’s been quite some time since he made a really stupid signing. I would go back to Yaya Sanogo. Replacing Alexis was never going to be a stage for Wenger to do something foolish, and I think a lot of optimism is derived from an unspoken trust in Wenger.
Plus there is the matter of Sven Mislintat identifying Malcom long ago for Dortmund and now – hopefully – finally bringing it all to fruition.
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It’s not a bandwagon. It’s not a bunch of fans blindly getting behind a player they know little to nothing about. It’s passion for the club. It’s trust in the system (odd as that may sound). And it’s trust in the various other factors that have risen the Malcom awareness of late.