Agent reveals Spurs offered over £50m for winger in 2018 

Josep Maria Minguella Jr, who acted as the intermediary in Barcelona’s acquisition of Malcom in 2018, has now revealed that Tottenham were ready to pay more than £50m for the player.

Tottenham were heavily linked with a move for Malcom back in 2018 (Telegraph), with the Brazilian being rated as one of the best talents in Ligue 1 at the time owing to his impressive campaigns at Bordeaux.

However, the winger eventually ended up moving to Barcelona after snubbing a move to Roma at the time. 

Spurs were once again linked with a move for the pacey wide man in the summer of 2019 (Sport) but he ended up completing a move to Zenit St. Petersburg instead. 

Malcolm’s stock has fallen considerably since then, with the winger failing to hit the expected heights in the Russian Premier League. 

Sport Witness have now relayed a report from Cadena Ser which claims that Barcelona paid a commission of €10m (£8.5m) to Minguell to complete a deal for the former Bordeaux man.

The agent has now defended himself against the allegations, explaining that he only took a modest cut from the fee and while doing so, revealed that Spurs also made a substantial offer for Malcom.

According to Sport Witness, Minguell told Mundo Deportivo: “Barça hired me to make possible an operation that initially cost about €62m (£53.5m), 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.

“The operation was closed for €41m (£35.5m) plus the 8 of intermediation that could make this operation possible.”

“With this operation, Barça saved about €15m and had a player, who was later sold for €50m plus bonuses, earning money. Almost everything that Barca paid me was for the commitments they had signed.”

Spurs Web Opinion 

The alleged substantial agent fee costs would explain why Tottenham pulled out of a potential deal for Malcom given how the North Londoners’ have done business historically. The fact that we did not manage to push through the deal is probably a blessing in disguise given the Brazilian’s struggles over the last few years. 

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