The January transfer window of 2018 will surely go down as the most hectic in history.

Virgil van Dijk moved to Liverpool for £75m, Philippe Coutinho ditched Anfield for Barcelona in a £142m and now, Alexis Sanchez is on the verge of signing the biggest contract in Premier League history, with Manchester United offering him £500,000-a-week.

It's been chaos and there are still a number of sagas yet to be solved, with the future of Bordeaux's Brazilian wonder-kid Malcom one of the most prominent.

The 20-year-old was reportedly on the brink of moving to Arsenal to replace Sanchez but now, the deal appears off, with respected BBC journalist David Ornstein saying the Gunners didn't want to sign such an 'inexperienced' player.

On Thursday, Arsene Wenger ruled out a move to him, saying: "No. I don't think we are close to doing that. No, I don't think so."

Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang are their primary targets, but it was thought that Arsenal would return for Malcom in the summer months after a full season in Ligue 1.

Well, that scenario has been put in jeopardy as Malcom may be set for a January move after all.

MALCOM COULD GET HIS PL DREAM

And to rub salt in the wounds, it is Arsenal's bitter rivals Tottenham that are the frontrunners.

According to Goal, Spurs have entered into negotiations with Malcom and they also state that the Gunners weren't willing to meet his £44m valuation.

Tottenham, on the other hand, are willing to spend big, with Brazilian outlet Globo Esporte saying they willl pay a £40m initial fee with £10m in add-ons.

So, the Gunners face the very real prospect of strengthening their rivals after abandoning a pursuit for a player who said he was desperate to play under Wenger.

Surely a deal that would have seen him return to Bordeaux on loan for the rest of the season would have been the sensible option.