Arsenal and Tottenham walked away from a potential deal for Malcom due to the loan fee Barcelona were requesting, according to reports.
The Sun claim the two north London clubs were ‘astonished’ by Barca’s demands and decided to cool their interest in the Brazilian winger.
Both sides had been linked with Malcom throughout January, and Barcelona were believed to be willing to let him leave before Thursday’s 11pm deadline to guarantee him game time. The 21-year-old has made only 12 appearances for the Camp Nou club since joining from Bordeaux for £36.5million last summer.
However, Arsenal and Spurs were put off by Barcelona’s demands and pulled out the race for Malcom, who failed to secure a January transfer so will now remain with Blaugrana for the foreseeable future.
Tottenham’s decision to not sign Malcom means they ended the January window without signing a single player, making it two transfer windows in a row with no new players brought to north London.
Arsenal did complete some business before Thursday’s deadline, with one Barcelona player making the move from Camp Nou to the Emirates on a temporary basis.
Denis Suarez penned terms with the Gunners for the remainder of the season, with Arsenal having the option of purchasing the Spain midfielder outright in the summer.