Roma: We won't accept Barca apology over Malcom unless they give us Messi

James Pallotta, Roma president, spoke about how Barcelona pinched Malcom from under their noses by striking a deal with Bordeaux after Roma's bid had been accepted.

"Barcelona intervened in a way which was not ethical. The deal was done. Yesterday Barcelona apologised or the Malcom transfer but we do not accept their apologies unless they sell us Messi. We had everything agreed with the player and a 120 million euro release fee too."

Pallotta said it was not about whether Malcom had put pen to paper - he hadn't. "It's not a questio nof the contract being signed, all teams know how these things work. Forgetting the legal side, what Barca did was not ethical."

However Roma confessed that relations with Barca had not been totally broken. "Relations are not over, they are a bigger team than us. In the future there will be other agreements with them."

Pallotta also questioned the role of Malcom's agent. "Maybe he is an idiot, I don't know," added the Roma president.