Roma could take legal action over Barcelona’s hijacked move for Malcom from Bordeaux

The Brazilian joined Barca for £36m after Bordeaux allegedly tried to spark a bidding war

Roma are considering taking legal action over Barcelona’s last-minute hijack of their move for Bordeaux winger Malcom.

The Serie A side announced on Monday that they has agreed a deal with Bordeaux for the Brazilian and that he was due to arrive in the Italian capital for a medical and to discuss terms the following day.

However, he never arrived despite fans waiting for him at the airport after Barcelona moved at the 11^th hour to sign Malcom for £3m on a five-year deal.

Roma are unhappy with Bordeaux for making them reveal the agreed deal before anything was signed, thus alerting other clubs to the move and in turn encouraging larger offers for the player.

"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.

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"So I was very surprised when one of the representatives of the player called me to tell me that Bordeaux had withdrawn permission for the player to travel to Rome.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

Malcom signed a five-year deal with Barca (AFP/Getty Images)

"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."

However, Bordeaux allegedly again moved the goalposts and asked Roma to increase their offer once more, leading to Monchi to pull the club out of the deal.

"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."