The winners and losers if Malcom completes his Roma to Barcelona U-turn

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At a Bordeaux airport, a plane was fuelled and ready to take Malcom to Italy so he could sign with Roma.

The 21 year-old Brazilian sensation was, perhaps quite sensibly, making a step up to play Champions League football at a top four contender in a top five European League. It wasn’t a big jump like many would dream of, but a sensible smaller step to make a bigger one later.

Then Barcelona gave him a call and it all changed. The Blaugrana wanted him, and they were offering Bordeaux more than Roma. Suddenly the deal was off and Malcom was grounded, put into negotiations with Barcelona for the move of a lifetime. Or is it?

We had a look at the winners and losers if Malcom actually did complete a dramatic U-turn and chose to join Barcelona.

Winner: Barcelona

This is obvious, but the Blaugrana will be snagging one hell of a player if they can convince Malcom to join them. They’ve already snagged a solid defender in Clement Lenglet and a very promising playmaker in Arthur, but Malcom is a 21 year-old winger bursting with the kind of pace and skill that Barça would love to have in their side. He’s a creative dynamo whose love of taking opponents on is surpassed only by his love of absolutely thwacking the ball at goal from distance.

Ousmane Dembélé is currently Barcelona’s only truly quick player, and adding Malcom gives the Blaugrana the option of playing both men together either side of Leo Messi in a terrifyingly quick and inventive front three. Imagine Messi’s passing options when surrounded by players of such incredible pace as Malcom and Dembélé? Or hell, Barcelona could play a 4-2-3-1 and always have one of Dembélé, Coutinho or Malcolm ready to bring off the bench (or start all three and give Leo Messi a rest).

Loser: Chelsea

The Blues were scheduled to make out like bandits this summer, with Barcelona reportedly so obsessed with their inconsistent winger Willian that they kept on offering higher and higher bids. The Blaugrana’s last one was £55m, which Chelsea rejected for some reason. But it was obvious that Barcelona were going to come back in for him; they really needed another winger and their myopic scouting had led them to one and only solution, which was Willian.

Well, apparently they expanded their horizon to… other Brazilians in Europe’s top five leagues. Malcom joining Barcelona wrecks Chelsea’s dreams of banking an enormous fee from a player who is probably not going to start in Maurizio Sarri’s new system at Stamford Bridge. Now they’ll have to hope they can coax the same kind of largess from Manchester United, or be stuck with a dissatisfied Brazilian for 2018/19.

Winner: Cengiz Under

Roma have done some tremendous business this summer, signing 12 players with goalkeeper Robin Olssen set to be the 13th. That number is unlucky for some, but not Cengiz Under. The 21 year-old Turkish international is a bright emerging talent at the Stadio Olimpico, having been signed by transfer guru Monchi, and that emergence would have been stunted by Malcom’s arrival as they play the same position.

No Malcom means that Under will now see an increase in his game-time and importance to the side. Expect him to play more than his 1256 Serie A minutes from 2017/18, and likely score more than his career high of 9 goals. And given the rate at which Roma appear to be developing star players for Europe’s elite sides, succeeding in The Eternal City can only bode well for the young man’s future.

Loser: Denis Suárez

Speaking of young men, Denis Suárez is still just 24 years-old. He’s been trying to find a way into the first-team picture since signing for the club, taking Xavi’s shirt and boldly declaring his best position was Iniesta’s. He’s never quite managed to find a niche in which he fits, though, until last season when his determination, drive and skill saw him gain the trust of Ernesto Valverde,

Denis wasn’t a starter, for sure, but he had managed to go from being an outcast to being a valued squad member. And with this season seeing an increased focus on the wings, Denis was hoping to use the club’s inability to land a winger to force his way back into the first-team picture alongside Ousmane Dembélé and Coutinho. Malcom’s arrival pushes him right back down.

Winner: Brazil

Tite had a problem at the 2018 World Cup and it’s one that won’t go away. Without Dani Alves (and the right-back is 35 so playing without him is the new normal) Brazil’s right-backs are more orthodox up-and-down-the-touchline types, which is fine but it means that the practice of using Willian as the right-winger doesn’t really work because it’s just two guys hitting the by-line and getting in each other’s way.

Obviously Douglas Costa is a solution here, a left-footer who can go wide but also cut inside and cause havoc; but he is injury-prone and thus can’t be relied on. But now there’s Malcom, 21 years-old, playing with the one of the world’s best teams. Training every day with the planet’s finest player Leo Messi and one of Brazil’s key playmakers in Coutinho. This is an ideal situation for Tite as he looks to take Brazil forward.

Loser: Roma fans

Malcom was scheduled to arrive in Rome at 11pm last night. So certain was the deal that there were loads of Roma fans gathered at the airport waiting to welcome the young winger. It would have been an incredible scene with the young man arriving and being swamped, but instead they were left standing around looking more than a little silly as Bordeaux grounded the Brazilian. Then there’s the general point that they will now miss out on watching Malcom light up Serie A in a Roma shirt. Not a good day for Romanisti!

Winner: International Champions Cup

The ICC is a bit dead this year, isn’t it? Everyone loved the idea of star-studded friendlies and for regions like North America and the Far East they do offer a great chance for fans to watch their favourites clash live instead of just on TV. But in a World Cup year, almost none of the stars are on display for their sides. Liverpool have taken Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané on tour with them at least, but no one is playing, so the games are all kind of dry even when there are goals.

Except now Barcelona vs. Roma, originally scheduled to marginally entertain the people of Arlington Texas, is now going to be a heated clash between two sides. Roma will be furious about missing out on Malcom and will want to take it out on Barcelona, whilst the Blaugrana will be keen to lord their new signing over the Italian side (who also knocked them out of the Champions League last season). Even with most of the stars absent, this should be a must-watch game.

The post The winners and losers if Malcom completes his Roma to Barcelona U-turn appeared first on Squawka News.



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