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Arsenal pull out of deal to sign £45m attacker following meeting [BBC]

By mac14 on January 20, 2018

According to David Ornstein, Arsenal have pulled out of a proposed £45m deal to sign Bordeaux attacker Malcom because he was too expensive given his inexperience.

Arsene Wenger is in the market for two new attackers as Alexis Sanchez is on the verge of joining Man Utd and Theo Walcott has already completed his switch to Everton.

Malcom has been strongly linked with a move to the Emirates in recent weeks with scout Gilles Grimandi believed to be the driving force behind our pursuit of the winger.

The 20-year-old has emerged as one of the most exciting young attackers in Europe since moving to France two years ago and he’s hoping to be named in the Brazil squad for the World Cup finals this summer.

Malcom has provided 7 goals and 4 assists in his 18 Ligue 1 appearances this season and he can play anywhere across the attacking midfield positions so you can see why Arsenal were showing a keen interest.

The Guardian claimed last week that Arsenal chiefs were in France on Sunday discussing personal terms with Malcom’s representatives ahead of a possible £45m move from Bordeaux.

However, it seems we’ve got cold feet as BBC journalist David Ornstein claims that Arsenal have backed out of a deal because we feel Malcom is too expensive for a player with such little experience.

Ornstein said on Twitter:

Malcom off – meetings held but eventually deemed too inexperienced.

To clarify on Malcolm, reason (among a few) #AFC out was price/value relative to experience – not inexperience alone.

I’m sure the fact we’re closing-in on Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang also has something to do with it as Arsenal were always highly unlikely to sign all three attackers.

To me, if we’ve pulled the plug on the Malcom deal it suggests Arsenal are confident of signing Mkhitaryan and Aubameyang and the club have decided to go with established players rather than taking a punt on a 20-year-old.

Given the state the club is in right now, we need to turn things around quickly so I personally think this approach makes more sense. Let’s just hope we get both deals over the line as it looks like Tottenham are now in pole position to sign Malcom and fans will NOT be impressed if we passed-up on him only to miss out on Mkhitaryan or Aubameyang.