The curious career of Malcom – Barcelona, Russia and now a Club World Cup star for Al Hilal

New York Times

3 days ago

After helping to send Manchester City home from the Club World Cup in a spin, Al Hilal winger Malcom joined his wife Leticia, two sons and wider family for a trip to Walt Disney World on Wednesday.
Having walked off the pitch in the 64th minute looking exhausted after his quick-fire goal and de facto assist stunned City, the player's recovery came in the form of Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Cinderella.
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For the 28-year-old Brazilian, the latter's story arc is perhaps rather fitting. Al Hilal certainly seem the perfect fit for him at this stage in his career, anyway.
Named after his father's hero Malcolm X, a prominent figure during the civil rights movement in the U.S., Malcom has excelled in the same land at this tournament.
He performed well against Real Madrid, Pachuca and Red Bull Salzburg, going close to scoring with his left foot from the edge of the box in the latter two group games, but it was against City, in the 4-3 victory that sealed a place in the quarter-finals, where Malcom found top gear.
In the 20 minutes after half-time, Malcom almost single-handedly changed the game. Within 30 seconds of the restart, he turned Rayan Ait-Nour on the halfway line and drove past another two players before playing the ball wide for a cross. The ball fell to him and his shot was parried straight to Marcos Leonardo to equalise.
Less than five minutes later, he spotted City's openness at their own corner and won a 60-yard sprint against Ait-Nouri and Tijjani Reijnders before sliding the ball under Ederson. Although he had to come off just after the hour mark, Malcom's conviction to drive towards goal with every dribble spread belief to his team-mates and the thousands of Saudis in the stadium.
It was a reminder of the ability he possesses, the talent that won him a €41million (£35m/$48m at current exchange rates) move to Barcelona in 2018.
His year there can be viewed as a misstep, a brief spell that was unmemorable from the off. Barcelona's manager at the time, Ernesto Valverde, was having breakfast one day with his assistants when they read in the newspaper Sport that a deal to sign the Brazilian from Bordeaux was practically done. When the club confirmed, Valverde was shocked and inquired what the plan was.
They had stolen in on Sevilla and Monchi at the eleventh hour and Malcom had jumped at the chance to play at the Camp Nou alongside Lionel Messi. He scored four goals in 24 appearances in all competitions, starting only six times in La Liga.
Malcom's potential was clear as a 16-year-old at the 2014 Copinha, the biggest youth tournament in Brazil. He shone for his hometown club Corinthians, winning admirers among the scouts in attendance — and, he later revealed, from hundreds of school girls who were messaging him after his name became known. He broke into the first team soon after he turned 17 and became a regular the next season.
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His Corinthians under-20s manager Osmar Loss described him as a 'responsible irresponsible' character, whose desire to improve saw him study clips of Romario as he worked on how to become more efficient in the final third. Malcom helped Corinthians win the league in 2015 but, after just 70 games, he was destined for Europe. He chose to move to France with Bordeaux, who acquired half of his player rights for €5million.
It represented guaranteed regular football in a top-five league while still a teenager and he adapted quickly, scoring long-range strikes against Lyon, Toulouse, Saint-Etienne and Dijon.
However, the player showed some naivety when he and his family posed for a photo with Neymar immediately after Bordeaux had conceded six goals against Neymar's Pari Saint-Germain.
Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal were credited with interest in him but Barcelona won the race and Brazil honours arrived a few months later. After his first goal for Barcelona against Inter Milan in the Champions League in November 2018, he declared his story as just getting started. Valverde hoped it would be a 'launchpad'.
In reality, it was to be a premature exit from Europe's main stage at the age of 22. Since 2019, his career has been spent in the petrostates of Russia and Saudi Arabia, playing for the dominant clubs in both leagues — Zenit Saint Petersburg and Al Hilal. Malcom saw it as a 'bridge', an experience at one of the world's biggest clubs which automatically inflated his status when he arrived at Russia's richest club Zenit for a fee of €40m. It was a productive time in Russia, winning four league titles in a row and being named the league's player of the year in 2022-23, when he scored 23 goals in 27 games.
As Al Hilal strategised where to splash the cash handed to them by the Saudi state's Public Investment Fund (PIF), Malcom's exploits and Russia's invasion of Ukraine made him a realistic target. It reunited him with Neymar, the idol he had once been too eager to get close to back in France, but Brazil's record scorer suffered an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture to his knee which meant they barely shared the pitch together. Instead, Malcom is the Brazilian forward who has gone on to lead the club's revolution, scoring in the last 16, quarter-final and semi-final in the Asia Champions League.
He won the Saudi Pro League with Al Hilal, for whom he scored a hat-trick on his debut, signalling that he was going to be one of the top players at that level. But many saw it as an unambitious move, a sign he may have given up on earning a regular spot in the Brazil squad despite scoring the winning goal in the final against Spain to win gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Malcom has certainly not been taking it easy in Saudi. He has taken his personal physiotherapist, Igor, with him to live full-time there and help ensure he is in the best shape possible.
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'Malcom is truly a big-hearted guy, very family-oriented,' says Igor. 'He truly believes in the project, which is ambitious and involves some of the biggest names in world football. Malcom would never have taken on this challenge if he didn't see real purpose and commitment in the mission to strengthen the league.
'Financial considerations are certainly part of any high-performance career. But beyond that, the opportunity to be part of a growing league, one that's undergoing a remarkable transformation, was also a strong motivator.
'We've seen clear evidence of that in the high-level matches being played, including the game against Manchester City. This is a new era for football in the region, and Malcom is playing an active role in shaping that future.'
If Malcom can inspire Al Hilal to victory against Fluminense on Friday in Orlando, Florida, they will be just two wins from staging the kind of upset that could make some people think differently about those big-name players who joined the Saudi project in the early stages.