Malcom’s move to Barcelona came about in 2018.

The 23-year-old went from French club Bordeaux to the Camp Nou in a deal that cost the Catalan giants £36.5m. Barcelona beat Roma to his signature.

He went on to play just 24 times for Barca, scoring four goals and laying on two assists, before an exit in 2019.

Malcom moved to Zenit St Petersburg in Russia for a fee of €40m (£34.6m) but it seems that the entire spell at Barca could have been avoided.

Sport Witness now carries a report from Mundo Deportivo claiming that Tottenham Hotspur made a bid for the winger before his switch to Barcelona.

The outlet interviewed intermediary Josep Maria Minguella Jr, who was employed by Barcelona to broker the deal to take Malcom, earning €10m (£8.6m) in the process.

And Minguella Jr says that Spurs made a move to sign the Brazilian amid the interest from Catalonia.

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He said: “Barça hired me to make possible an operation that initially cost about €62m (£53.8m), which was the offer that Bordeaux had from Tottenham, and we managed to get him to stop going to Roma, get off the plane and change course to Barcelona.”

Malcom moved in the summer of 2018, a window in which Spurs did not sign a player.

GIVEMESPORT’S Harry Sherlock says…

Bullet dodged.

Malcom never made any kind of impact during his time at Barca and has also struggled at Zenit.

At the Russian club, he has made 34 appearances and has scored just five goals, while also providing five assists.

Spurs, of course, could have done with a few new players in 2018 and Malcom would have been gratefully received by then-manager Mauricio Pochettino.

But, ultimately, this isn’t a very good player, and his move to Barcelona was a blessing in disguise.