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Football

02nd Jan 2019

Everton show an interest in Barcelona forward Malcom

Everton have shown interest in out of favour Barcelona winger Malcom, who has struggled to break into the Barcelona side since joining in the summer

Reuben Pinder

He has only made nine appearances for Barcelona this season

Everton have shown interest in Barcelona winger Malcom, who has struggled to make an impact since joining the LaLiga side from Bordeaux in the summer.

Barcelona beat AS Roma to Malcom’s signature in the summer, despite everything being in place for the Brazilian to join the Serie A club, when he pulled a last minute U-turn and signed for the Spanish champions.

However, it looks as though he might have made the wrong decision, as he has only made nine appearances for Barça in all competitions this season. His first three appearances all came a month apart and he has not played since December 5th.

With Lionel Messi, Ousmane Dembélé and Philippe Coutinho blocking his path, Everton are keen to offer Malcom a way out of Barcelona, according to Spanish newspaper MARCA.

The Toffees have expressed interest in bringing the 21-year-old to Goodison Park, where he would be afforded a lot more game time, although he would have Bernard and Theo Walcott to compete with. There has also been interest from China, MARCA report.

Everton showed interest in the player last summer too, and are reportedly willing to try again with a £35m bid, just short of the €41m Barça paid for him.

Despite this interest, Malcom is reportedly set on staying at Barcelona and proving his worth. He wants to wait until the summer to see whether Barça boss Ernesto Valverde will place any more trust in him as the season progresses, but if he continues to be excluded, he will seek a move away.

He might be better off proving his worth to Barça on loan at Everton – as Andre Gomes has done this season – rather than sitting on the bench for the rest of the season, but to each his own.

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