Malcoms Barcelona career is unfortunately already over and the Brazilian is heading out the exit door of the Camp Nou. Even though its quite a disappointing ending to a fairly sad story, it is one that we all somehow expected to happen anyway. But despite limited game time, Malcom is still a player of high quality and can bring a lot to his new team.
For that reason, this tactical analysis scout report will look to dissect the player and give you his best attributes alongside the tactics that best suit his style. Barcelona might not have been a great place for him to show them off, but they are certainly there, and this analysis will aim to uncover them all.
Player overview
Malcom is a 22-year-old winger who used to play for the French side Bourdeaux before he joined Barcelona in 2018. The Catalans famously “stole” him in the last seconds before he managed to join Roma, having already packed his suitcase and practically being moments away from signing the contract.
Barcelona got themselves a proper prospect – a direct, wide man with exceptional technical abilities as well as great passing range. Malcom is a pacy winger who excels in aggressive 1v1 duels and at exploiting space behind the opposition’s backs. But he is much more than just his runs – his decision making and footballing intelligence should not be overlooked despite it very much still being a work in progress.
Malcom is always aware of his surroundings makes decisions accordingly. For that reason, his movement is on point and always deadly for the opposition. His ability to create space for both himself and his teammates is also something that makes him unpredictable and lethal.
Some of his best traits, however, are his work rate and extraordinary mentality. And this is something every team can use in their ranks.
Pace, skill and technique
Despite him being deployed at a number of other positions, Malcom is a winger first and foremost, and a highly versatile one at that. What this means is that he is equally likely to drift to a deeper, more central role but also stick to his position up wide and on the defenders’ shoulders when needed.
Before we delve more into the analysis, here’s the Brazilian’s heatmap from last season and also from his last season at Bordeaux. Judging by that only, we can already see his preferred style of play.
