According to Roma sports director Monchi, the Serie A club had negotiated with Bordeaux for a week and had reached an agreement for the transfer of the 21-year-old team to the Italian team.
"I'm really sorry for It happened, but I think we had a full agreement with Bordeaux – and we offered even more than that to do it again," Monchi told the Rome website.
"President [James] Pallotta made the decision of The best possible offer, but when the negotiation became an auction, we decided to withdraw
" If anyone wants to come to Rome, it's awesome, but ultimately, he does not want to come to Rome, we do not want to "Now, within the club, we look at our options and see if we have a legal record, it is true that nothing has been signed, but there are many messages with agents and their president that are at least worthy of being evaluated. "
Neither Barcelona nor Bordeaux have spoke publicly about the negotiations surrounding the transfer from Malcom and no club immediately responded to CNN Sport's request for comment.