How has Malcom fared at Zenit after leaving Barcelona?

Troubled days for Malcom Filipe Silva de Oliveira 'Malcom'. The Brazilian saw how his name came to the fore again in the news of Barcelona due to information from Cadena SER that assured that the Catalan club paid ten million euros in commissions for his signing. A piece of news that counteracts the fact that this Friday, the Brazilian winger celebrated his 24th birthday in the process of recovering from a knee injury.

The signing of Malcom by Barça was very controversial from the first moment it was conceived. With an almost closed deal with Roma, he finally landed at Can Barça in July 2018. Ernesto Valverde was not very fond of giving minutes to the Brazilian who also never broke down the door to gain a foothold. Many ups and downs and two flashes of quality: a goal in El Clásico in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semifinals (1-1). And both against Inter (1-1) in the group stage of the Champions League. 1,067 minutes spread over 24 games and four goals. 10 starting matches, half in the Copa del Rey. A poor performance that ended the following season transferred for almost the same price of € 40M to Zenit in Saint Petersburg.

Y How has Malcom been doing since he left Barcelona? As for titles, wonderfully. Zenit made a double with the Russian league and cup in 2020, to which must be added the Super Cup this season. Personally, things are not going well for the Brazilian winger. Right now he hasn't been on a pitch since mid-December. And it is anticipated not come back for at least another month because of knee ligament problems. Articulation that has weighed down much of the course in Russia. In addition, he has suffered nasty racist attacks on some rival camp.

34 games in two seasons

Malcom missed the first round of the Champions League group stage and the '8' of the team has only played 19 games in which he has scored a single goal. His previous season wasn't very good either. As soon as he arrived in August, he spent four months KO suffering from hip problems. An ailment that allowed him to wear the elastic of Zenit in 15 games (for four goals and three assists).

With contract until 2024, Malcom continues to be, to this day, the most expensive signing of the Saint Petersburg entity along with those of Hulk and Witsel. But it is light years away from the performance of the other two. Malcom's departure from Barcelona made two things possible. With the money that was entered by the left-handed man, the culés went for Junior Firpo. That has stalled. And he opened the door to a free extra-community position … which was occupied by a young Uruguayan central member of the branch: Araújo.