Bordeaux president Stephane Martin has insisted that he has no regrets in not selling Tottenham Hotspur wing target Malcom last summer.
The Brazilian winger’s future has been subject to much speculation over the last year, with clubs such as Tottenham and Arsenal believed to be interested in signing him.
There were question marks over his future at Bordeaux last summer too and in January, Premier League clubs did try to sign him, but the Ligue 1 outfit refused to sell.
Bordeaux have more or less given away the secret that Malcom will be sold in the summer, but there are suggestions that he might not command the kind of fee he would have last year or even in the winter window.
The winger has not been in great form in the second half of the season, but Martin explained his reasons for not selling the Brazilian earlier as he feels it would have brought forward questions about Bordeaux’s ambition.
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The club chairman is convinced that he will be able to extract a bigger transfer fee for Malcom in the summer.
Martin told French radio station RMC when asked whether Bordeaux made a mistake in not selling Malcom earlier: “There is no regret.
“If we had sold Malcom last summer, it would have destroyed us and rightly so as the theme would have been ‘there’s no ambition or project at this club’.
“Malcom is still having a good season and I am deeply convinced that he will be sold at a higher price than if he was sold last year.
“So no regrets in selling him this year rather than last year.”
The French club are understood to be looking at a fee of around €50m for Malcom.
