Arsenal: Loan deal for Malcom absolutely ideal

Arsenal are being linked with a loan deal for Barcelona winger Malcom. While I would be hesitant about a permanent transfer, a loan could be absolutely ideal.

Arsenal need a winger. The lack of productivity from the position last season proved as much — in fact, there were plenty who were worried by the position before last season, and the play on the field only served to vindicate such concerns.

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Their main problem, however, is that they both have little money to invest in one and a whole array of other positions that require some investment this summer, the defensive ones chief among them. So how do you solve one of the premier attacking positions that tends to demand higher transfer fees and wages without much cash?

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Well, one way is to take a punt on a player with a slightly checkered reputation but serious talent. These kinds of players have the potential to reach elite levels of performance and production, but there is a serious element of risk that is attached, thus pushing the price down into a more affordable range. These are the targets that Arsenal should be chasing this summer, and in Barcelona’s Malcom, they may have found one.

The 22-year-old Brazilian made the Camp Nou switch last summer. Things did not go to plan. He played just 608 La Liga minutes, scored four goals in all competitions, and slipped right out of the first-team thinking, such that Barcelona are now trying to offload him just 12 months after signing for £36.5 million. That is the risk that is attached. But the talent is also present too.

The year prior, at Bordeaux, Malcom scored 12 goals and assisted seven in 2867 Lige 1 minutes. He turned 21 halfway through that season. In the 2016/17 season, again at Bordeaux and aged just 19 at the start of it, he scored seven goals and assisted four. Malcom is a prodigious talent, even if it never showed in Barcelona.

So how do you evaluate a player with terrific talent, obvious risk, and the potential to solve a serious need? Well, it seems as though Arsenal might have a solution here as well. According to reports in the media, the Gunners are considering a loan deal for Malcom and inserting an option-to-buy clause next summer.

That would be the ideal transfer. It allows Arsenal to roll the dice at solving one of their greatest weaknesses, it mitigates the risk somewhat, knowing that Malcom can return to Barcelona a year later if he does not perform as hoped or expected, and it also allows Barcelona to offload his wages for a year and potentially have a deal wrapped up a year in advance as well.

Signing Maclom for £30-plus million this summer is a very risky deal, one that could seriously backfire. But a loan with an option to buy still offers the upside of the player while limiting the risk of failure. That is the ideal transfer, and it is how you address one of the premier positions with very little resource.