Barcelona have reached a deal to sign Bordeaux's Malcom for £36.5m, less than 24 hours after Roma announced they had agreed a deal for the same player.
Last season, Malcolm enjoyed a successful year in Ligue 1 after his move from Corinthians. The Brazilian winger was expected to join Seria A side Roma after the club announced a deal had been agreed. However, Spanish champions Barcelona swooped in with a better offer before he had boarded a plane for Italy.
The deal was set to be Roma's biggest of the summer and complete an attacking trio after the arrival of Javier Pastore and Justin Kluivert. The player's agent, Fernando Garcia, told Real Sport it was the decision of the French club and not the player that resulted in the late switch: "We had an agreement with Rome, then Bordeaux blocked us."
Roma Sporting director Monchi released a frustrated statement in the aftermath.
What happened with Malcolm is easy to explain, but difficult to understand as we'd found an agreement with the agent, the player and Bordeaux. I informed our president (when things changed) and he asked me to push forward and make a new offer that was better than Barca. Pallotti made the decision to make the best offer possible but when the negotiation became an auction we decided to withdraw.
He went on to explain the club are considering legal action: "We are looking at our options and seeing if we have a legal case."
The move also marks the latest signing in an active window for Barcelona. Already this month they signed Clement Lenglet for €35 million and Arthur for €40 million.
