Bayern Munich have reportedly ‘moved ahead’ of Arsenal and Tottenham in the race to sign Bordeaux winger Malcom this summer.

According to the Mirror, Bayern want to sign Malcom in order to replace Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery. The two Bundesliga veterans are getting on a bit – they’re both 34. Therefore, it’s expected that either or both could leave in the summer when their contracts run out.

From what I’ve found, it looks as if the first report linking Malcom with a move to Bayern popped up in November last year. An ‘exclusive’ on Mercato365‘s website claimed that the German club were keeping an eye on the 20-year-old.

The same outlet then nodded back to the report a month later, shortly before the January transfer window opened. The rumour only now seems to have made its way to the UK with not only the Mirror reporting it but Metro as well.

Tottenham and Arsenal were both heavily linked with Malcom in January but Bordeaux refused to sell. At least not for a penny under £44.4m, which both north London sides apparently thought was too much.

Spurs signed PSG’s Lucas Moura and Arsenal signed Manchester United’s Henrikh Mkhitaryan as part of a swap deal for Alexis Sanchez.

While Lucas tends to play on the right for Spurs, leaving room on the left for Malcom, Arsenal are unlikely to return for the 20-year-old in the summer.

Even though Bordeaux denied Malcom’s recent comments about the Ligue 1 club ‘promising’ the forward a move, manager Gus Poyet is convinced that the winger is off ‘sooner or later’.

“He is a special player who can win matches on his own.” Poyet told Marca. “He is often double-marked because his talent is that special.

“In January we were nervous because we almost lost him to the Premier League. We must prepare for this because sooner or later he will leave.”

At the moment, it feels far more likely that Malcom, who has until June 2021 on his current contract, will sign for Spurs. Purely because of their huge interest in January.

Presumably Bayern would want to replace Robben and Ribery with someone more experienced and Arsenal don’t need another forward. Not immediately anyway.

Saying this, the rumour that Bayern are keeping an eye on the Brazilian certainly isn’t new and it’s not going away.

Malcom has scored eight goals and provided seven assists over all competitions for Bordeaux this season.