Topics: Transfer, Serie A, AS Roma, Bordeaux, Barcelona, Malcom
The Brazilian winger made a U-turn and joined the Catalans after Bordeaux pulled the plug on his Roma transfer.

A lot of heat is building up on Malcom's sensational move to Barcelona with AS Roma sensing foulplay. The Giallorossi had a medical scheduled for the 21-year-old forward on Tuesday and was expecting his arrival in Rome on Monday night after agreeing on a 40 million euro deal in principle with Bordeaux.

With both clubs confirming the players imminent switch, the latter went back on its word and denied Malcom the permission to fly out to Italy having received an improved late bid from Barcelona. The Brazilian winger, as a result, rescinded his decision and subsequently agreed on a five-year deal with the Blaugrana after Bordeaux accepted their €42m (£37.3m) bid. 

With Barcelona confirming the arrival of the 21-year-old on Tuesday, AS Roma is actively considering the possibilty to take legal action against Bordeaux.

"We are looking at our options and seeing if we have a legal case," Roma sporting director Monchi stated in an interview with the club's official website. According to him, the Giallorossi only made the official announcement of Malcom's signing after the club president of Bordeaux, Stephane Martin, told him his side was going to do the same.

"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."

"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"So I was very surprised when one of the representatives of the player called me to tell me that Bordeaux had withdrawn permission for the player to travel to Rome.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," Monchi added.

"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.

"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.

"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.

"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," Monchi concluded.