Nicolas de Tavernost, president of the M6 group which owns FC Girondins de Bordeaux, says the club will let Malcom leave this summer.

Speaking in L’Equipe, De Tavernost revealed that the club bought the 21-year-old to begin with in hopes of selling him at a profit. He didn’t name Malcom specifically, but it was very clear who he was talking about.

“There is a major player from Brazil who you know wants to leave the club and we will do that in all of our interests,” De Tavernost said. “It is the reason we bought this player in the first place, to eventually sell him in between seasons.”

Given they only spent €5m on the player in 2016, it’s not going to be difficult to sell him for more. The winger has nine goals and seven assists in 33 matches this season, playing in for one of the smaller teams in the big leagues. That’s no mean feat for a player of his age.

The quotes confirm news from Malcom himself in February, when he told Brazilian media that club would consider offers for him this summer.

In January, Bordeaux were demanding €50m (£44.4m) for the 20-year-old, according to reports. The media heavily linked Arsenal to a move to replace Alexis Sanchez, but in the end the club brought in Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang instead.

It’s not clear whether Arsenal would still want the winger this summer. I guess that largely depends on who’s in charge, after the news that Arsene Wenger will step down.

If they are after the Brazilian though, he should be available.