Lionel Messi's Support for Malcom at Barcelona

Lionel Messi saw a future for Malcom at Barcelona long before the Brazilian winger packed his bags for Russia. The club’s board had accepted Zenit St. Petersburg’s offer in the summer of 2019, the numbers made sense, and Malcom’s name was already drifting towards the exit door. Inside the dressing room, though, the captain had other ideas.

Messi didn’t just offer a polite farewell. He tried to stop the move.

According to Malcom, speaking to SPORT, the Argentine pulled him aside as the transfer gathered pace and delivered a message that cut through the noise around his stuttering first season under Ernesto Valverde. Messi, who had seen countless forwards come and go at Camp Nou, believed this one should stay.

Messi’s backing in a difficult year

Malcom had arrived from Bordeaux in 2018 with the usual fanfare that greets a highly rated young winger at Barça. The reality was harsher. Game time was limited, the competition brutal, and he never truly escaped the fringes of Valverde’s plans.

Inside that difficult year, though, he found an ally in the club’s undisputed leader.

“I always tell my friends that I played alongside Messi for a whole year. It was an incredible experience. He always treated me wonderfully,” the Brazilian recalled. The relationship went beyond kind words in training. At the decisive moment of his Barça career, Messi stepped in.

“When I was about to leave for Russia, Messi came to speak to me and said: ‘You’re a player with a brilliant future ahead of you and you’ll become a great footballer’,” Malcom revealed.

Then came the part that would have made any young forward hesitate.

“He asked me to stay. He said: ‘Stay here, you’re one of Barça’s players for the future’.”

The club hierarchy had already shaken hands with Zenit. Messi, though, was effectively casting a vote of confidence in the dressing room: this was a player he trusted, a player he felt could grow into a key piece of Barcelona’s future.

A choice between Messi’s faith and minutes on the pitch

For Malcom, the decision became a battle between belief and opportunity. On one side, the greatest player of his generation telling him to stay. On the other, a crowded attack and the cold reality of his minutes.

Barcelona’s forward line at the time left little room for patience. Malcom saw his path blocked and his development at risk.

“I was young and wanted to play matches, gain experience and show my potential. I wanted to prove what I was capable of on the pitch,” he explained. Regular football, not prestige, became the priority.

So he walked away from Messi’s request and towards Russia. Barcelona confirmed his transfer to Zenit in August 2019 for €40 million plus €5 million in variables. He left with 24 appearances, four goals, and the nagging sense that the story might have been different.

“Perhaps I didn’t make the right decision, but I was looking to play regularly, and that’s why I chose to go to Russia,” he admitted. It is the kind of reflection that follows many young talents who leave elite clubs early: did they escape a cage, or abandon a unique education?

The night of the Clásico and Messi’s trust

Malcom’s memories of Messi are not limited to that crossroads summer. They also include one of his brightest nights in a Barcelona shirt.

Before the 2019 Copa del Rey semi-final first leg against Real Madrid, the Brazilian received another message from his captain. This one came with the tension of a Clásico in the air.

“I remember that before the Clasico against Real Madrid he said to me: ‘We’re counting on you. Get ready because you’re going to play’,” Malcom recalled.

Those words were not empty. Malcom started, scored the equaliser, and left his mark on one of football’s biggest stages. For a player fighting for every minute, that kind of backing matters.

“He was always there to encourage me, motivate me and give me confidence, even when I was tired or had to compete with other players for a spot,” he added.

For all the tactical debates and transfer figures that defined that era at Barcelona, Malcom’s story offers a different angle: inside a turbulent club, the captain still had time to bet on a young winger who never quite got the chance to prove Messi right.