Roma considering legal action over Barcelona transfer for Malcom

Malcom has signed for Barcelona NOT Roma [Photo: Courtesy]

Roma are considering taking legal action over Barcelona's £37million transfer for Malcom.

The Serie A side thought they had all but sealed a deal for the Bordeaux winger on Monday night but Barca hijacked the move at the 11th hour to land Malcom on a five year deal.

Roma, who had announced they had reached an agreement with the French side on social media, are now furious at missing out on the Brazilian.

Monchi is not happy is Bordeaux over the move [Photo: Courtesy]

They are blaming Bordeaux for effectively forced them to revealing the move and in turn alerted Barca to make a bigger offer.

"We are looking at our options and seeing if we have a legal case," Roma sporting director Monchi said on the club website.

"It is true that nothing was signed, but there are many messages with the agents and their president that are at least worth being assessed."

Malcom's move to Roma was hijacked at the 11th hour [Photo: Courtesy]

Monchi claimed Bordeaux then reneged on their £35.5m deal with Roma, the result of "three of four days of intensive negotiations", after receiving the higher offer from Barcelona.

He said: "It is true that, a few days ago, I was aware that a lot of squads were keen on Malcom - Barcelona among them. Because of this we got the deal agreed as quickly as we could: it was done.

"So I was very surprised when one of the representatives of the player called me to tell me that Bordeaux had withdrawn permission for the player to travel to Rome. I called Martin and he told me that an offer had come in from Barcelona that was better than ours and that if we did not raise our offer we could not have the player.

"I told him that we had an agreement, we had made the deal, but he said that nothing had been signed and that, despite having sent some documents to be signed, nothing could be done.

Malcom earned his massive move after starring at Bordeaux [Photo: Courtesy]

"I informed our president (James Pallotta), telling him of the change - and he gave me the green light to push forward and make a new offer that was better than Barcelona's. That was against my opinion, but he insisted he was willing and said, 'Go for it'.

"I informed the Bordeaux president and his agents that Roma were ready to beat Barcelona's offer. Their president told me that we needed to send it in officially. At 11pm we submitted a formal document with the offer president Pallotta was willing to make."

Monchi said that Malcom had been expected to travel to Rome on Tuesday evening, but that, after a midday meeting between the Brazilian's representatives and Bordeaux, he was told "that the agents and Bordeaux wanted another offer as Barcelona were still pushing for a deal".

The sporting director added: "I told them enough, because we did not want to enter an auction. We could not continue like that. And yesterday we had only raised our offer because of the willingness and desire of our president. So that was how everything ended.

Malcom had been expected to travel to Rome on Tuesday evening [Photo: Courtesy]

"If someone wants to come to Roma that is great, but ultimately if they do not want to come to Rome then we do not want them."

Malcom, who has yet to represent his country at senior level, began his career in his homeland with Corinthians and was part of the Campeonato title-winning side of 2015 before moving to France in January 2016.

He spent three seasons with Bordeaux, scoring 23 goals in 96 appearances.

Rugby
SCHOOLS: Kitondo sets sights on national glory ahead of Eastern Region rugby showdown
Athletics
Watch out for improved times at Lukenya marathon on Sunday
Rugby
SCHOOLS: Maseno School renew rivalry with St Mary's Yala in rugby
Hockey
SCHOOLS: Ng'iya Girls, Ageng'a Mixed, Kisumu Girls and Nyamira headline hockey