Messi's Plea: Malcom's Decision to Leave Barcelona
Lionel Messi tried to change Malcom’s mind. Hard.
As Barcelona prepared to cash in on the Brazilian winger in the summer of 2019, the captain stepped in with a personal plea: stay, fight, grow here. Malcom has now lifted the lid on those conversations, revealing just how much faith Messi had in a player the club was already willing to move on.
Messi saw a future others didn’t
Malcom arrived from Bordeaux in 2018 as one of that era’s classic Barcelona transfers: expensive, debated, and immediately under scrutiny. Under Ernesto Valverde he never truly escaped the fringes, used in flashes rather than entrusted with a run of games.
Inside the dressing room, though, the view was different. Messi, the undisputed leader of that group, believed the 21-year-old had the tools to become an important part of Barça’s next generation.
Malcom recalls that year alongside the Argentine with clear affection. He talks about how Messi treated him, how the captain’s attitude cut through the hierarchy that can suffocate young signings. For a player trying to break into one of the world’s most demanding forward lines, that backing mattered.
It mattered even more when the exit door opened.
“Stay here, you’re one of Barça’s players for the future”
The key moment came as Malcom prepared to leave for Zenit St. Petersburg. Barcelona had accepted the Russian club’s offer. The move was on. That’s when Messi stepped forward.
According to Malcom, the captain’s message was direct: you have a brilliant future, you’re going to become a great footballer. Stay.
Messi didn’t just praise him. He positioned him inside the club’s long-term picture. “You’re one of Barça’s players for the future,” was the essence of the conversation, a powerful statement from a figure whose opinion shaped careers at Camp Nou.
For a young attacker, that kind of endorsement could have been enough to slam the door on any transfer. It almost did. Almost.
The pull of minutes, and a decision he still questions
Malcom chose a different path. For all the warmth, all the words, he kept coming back to one thing: playing time.
Barcelona’s attacking competition at the time was brutal. Established stars dominated the front line. Opportunities were sporadic, often dependent on injuries or rotations. Malcom wanted more than cameos. He wanted a stage, every week, to show what he could do.
He has admitted he may not have chosen perfectly. That doubt lingers. But in that moment, the logic felt clear: go somewhere you play, not somewhere you wait.
So he left. In August 2019, Barcelona confirmed his transfer to Zenit for €40 million plus €5 million in variables. His Barça career closed after just one season, 24 appearances, and four goals in the 2018-19 campaign. A brief, flickering chapter.
A Clásico, a goal, and Messi’s trust
For all the frustration, Malcom’s year in Barcelona did produce one indelible memory: a Clásico goal, and Messi’s trust ringing in his ears.
Ahead of the 2019 Copa del Rey semi-final first leg against Real Madrid, the Argentine again sought him out. The message this time was not about the future. It was about the present: we’re counting on you, be ready, you’re going to play.
Malcom started. He scored Barcelona’s equaliser. On the biggest domestic stage of all, he delivered exactly what that faith demanded.
He remembers how Messi constantly pushed him, encouraged him, tried to fuel his confidence even when fatigue set in or competition for places tightened around him. For a young winger in a ruthless environment, that support became a lifeline.
Years later, the Brazilian still circles back to that influence. To a captain who saw beyond the transfer fee and the short-term doubts. To the idea that, in another version of events, he might have stayed, grown, and fully justified Messi’s conviction.
Football doesn’t offer rewinds. Only the question that lingers: what might that “future at Barça” have looked like if he had listened to the greatest voice in the room?
