RIYADH — Al-Hilal Club officially announced its signing with Brazilian international Malcolm Filipe de Oliveira, leaving the Russian team club Zenit Saint Petersburg. The Brazilian winger, who joined Zenit in 2019 from Barcelona, will wear the blue jersey for a period of three years. Al-Hilal would pay 60 million euros ($66.38 million) for the transfer.

Malcolm was the Russian Premier League’s top scorer last season with 23 goals as his club won the title. Al-Hilal are the most decorated club in Saudi Arabia and Asia having won 66 trophies and hold the record for Saudi Pro League and Asian Champions titles with 18 and four times respectively.

The 26-year-old winger is Al-Hilal’s fourth signing this summer after Senegal defender Kalidou Koulibaly, Serbia midfielder Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Portuguese midfielder Ruben Neves. Malcolm began his professional career with the Brazilian club Corinthians for two years from 2014 to 2016. This period witnessed his emergence with outstanding performance. Subsequently, European offers flocked to the player in early 2016, and that resulted in moving, during the winter transfer period, to the French Bordeaux team. Malcolm spent two and a half seasons with this team, scoring 23 goals in 96 games for the French club.

In the summer of 2018, he signed for Barcelona with a purchase deal from Bordeaux, amounting to 41 million euros. During this summer, with a year left of the player’s contract with the Russian club, Al-Hilal managed to sign with him, after buying the remaining period of his contract with Zenit.

At the international level, Malcolm represented his country’s U-20 and 23-year-old teams. For the Brazilian national football team, Malcolm had played two matches so far, the last of which was the friendly match against Senegal on June 20.

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