UNETHICAL, IMMORAL BARCA
Roma president furious after Malcom deal hijacked
ROMA president Jim Pallotta has accused Barcelona of acting 'unethically and immorally' in their signing of Brazilian winger Malcom — and suggested they should send star player Lionel Messi to the Italian capital as compensation.
The Serie A club seemed to have a deal sewn up with Bordeaux for the 21-year-old Brazilian winger, even confirming the transfer on Twitter, with some Roma fans gathering at the airport to welcome the player.
However at the 11th hour Barca swooped with a £45million (RM240 million) bid which blew Roma's offer out the water, and Malcom failed to board his chartered private plane to Rome.
Instead the next day he signed for Barcelona, leaving Roma embarrassed and Pallotta furious.
In a long rant to American radio station Sirius XM, he claimed to have rejected an apology from Barca over the way they acted, and said he would only forgive if they allowed Roma to sign Malcom — or Messi.
Pallotta said: “There’s no question that we had a deal with Malcom, then Barca jumped into the mix unethically and immorally. They knew this was done.
“I have zero problem battling it out for a player with Inter or Bayern or whoever and all of us going through the same process. That’s the way it works.
“Sure some people say ‘it wasn't signed’. That’s bull **** . We all know how it works. The kid comes in for the medical and the signing is done.
“Other teams know not to come in and do what Barca did. Bordeaux should have never been doing what they did. Their actions were ridiculous.
“For Bordeaux to come back and say ‘Oh well, we didn't sign it...’, well, they asked if they could put it on their website and tweet that he’s going to Rome.
‘Barcelona apologised about their actions and how they did things. I don’t accept the apology at all. The only way I’ll accept Barca’s apology is if they send the player to us, and that’s not going to happen. Maybe, as a goodwill gesture, the very least they could do is send us Messi.
Barca’s late dash for Malcom came when a £65m bid for their primary target, Chelsea midfielder Willian, was unexpectedly rejected.
So they moved for Malcom, tempting him with the No 7 shirt — even after Roma’s official account tweeted that a deal with Bordeaux was agreed.
Eric Abidal, Barcelona sporting director, called Bordeaux president Stephane Martin and told the French club Barca would offer them more money for their young star.
Pallotta insisted that they make a higher counter offer, but when this was subsequently topped by Barcelona, Roma pulled out not wishing to partake in a bidding war they were likely to lose.