Zenit president confirms deal for Barcelona's Malcom is in a 'decisive phase'

The president of Russian giants Zenit St. Petersburg has this evening confirmed that his side are closing on a deal for Barcelona outcast Malcom.

Barca struggles

22-year-old wide-man Malcom only made the move to the Camp Nou last summer.

With it having looked absolutely nailed-on that the Brazilian was set to join AS Roma, Barca hijacked the Giallorossi's deal at the last-minute, eventually securing Malcom's signature from Bordeaux for a fee of around 41 million Euro.

However, to say that the youngster's time in Catalunya has since proven a disappointment would be putting it lightly.

Malcom has struggled to carve out a regular place for himself in Ernesto Valverde's attacking setup, sitting behind the likes of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Ousmane Dembele and Philippe Coutinho in the Blaugrana pecking order.

All told, across the entirety of last season, the South American managed just 6 La Liga starts.

As such, it has since come as little surprise to see Malcom tipped for a potential Camp Nou exit this summer, less than 12 months after his move to Spain was made official.

Zenit bound

To this point, the likes of Arsenal, Tottenham and Inter Milan have all been touted as potential destinations for the Barca outcast.

The latest updates spreading across the European media this evening, though, suggest that Malcom is in fact set for a surprise move to Russia.

After Marca first reported that Zenit St. Petersburg had emerged as leading contenders to snap the attacker up, the reliable Gerard Romero later confirmed as much:

And Zenit president Alexander Metvedev has this evening provided an update on the situation.

Speaking in an interview with Fontanka (via Sport), Metvedev went as far as to state that negotiations between the clubs are at an 'advanced' stage, hinting that an agreement is close to being found:

'The negotiations with Barcelona for Malcolm are advanced and are going through a very active and decisive phase.'