Arsenal: Am I the only one not excited about Malcom transfer?

Arsenal are still linked to Malco, but I just can’t find any excitement for this move whatsoever. Am I the only one who would rather not?

Arsenal need a winger. Maybe they commit it all to youth, which I’d be totally on board for, but it doesn’t look like they want to leave it up to that. It looks like they’re going after a very specific, exclusive collection of players I do not want.

Wilfried Zaha is one. And now Malcom seems to be hanging around for the long-haul.

Once a transfer target when he was still a young’un at Bordeaux, Malcom made the ill-fated decision to overstep his talent levels (or potential, or both) and leap to Barcelona, who paid far too much for him and now don’t have any use for him. He’s buried on a stacked team and he wants to know why he’s not getting any playing time except in midweek competitions.

And now he wants out. His 22-year-old self realizes he needs playing time and probably shouldn’t have gone to Barcelona in the first place, so here come Arsenal, original suitors who would have provided a better home, ready to provide him a better home.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

• 3 standout players from 1-0 victory over Everton
• 3 positives & negatives from Goodison Park victory
• Arsenal vs PSV preview: Prediction, team news & lineups
• 3 talking points from Arsenal’s victory at Goodison Park
• Mikel Arteta provides Gabriel Martinelli injury update after Everton win

For the life of me, I can’t get excited about this potential move at all. Maybe I’m being short-sighted, especially because I’ve advocated for sloppy seconds before, but snubbing a move to the Emirates to fail at Barcelona doesn’t strike me as an excellent resume builder.

Not just that, but if we’re really interested in building around younger talent, why not trust our own young talent rather than someone who has only ever found success in Ligue 1, and even then, not for very long?

If we really want to bolster the wings, don’t drop a fee on a guy like Malcom that you could be spending on a proven commodity like Hakim Ziyech, who has been around, had a lot of success, and can be trusted to make an immediate impact, which is exactly what we’d need.

I get redemption stories are great, and Malcom could be hungrier than most as this is his quest for redemption, but not everything works out like a fairy tale. He isn’t a proven talent, he’s a bit of a wild card, and that doesn’t make sense for the price tag Barca want.

Now, if we’re going to talk about a loan, then maybe I can scrounge together some enthusiasm, but something just isn’t clicking with me and this move.