AS Roma chief Monchi admits they're exploring legal options after being trumped by Barcelona to the signing of Bordeaux attacker Malcom.

Malcom was set to join Roma before Barcelona upped the ante and outbid the Serie A side.

Monchi said, "Now, within the club, we are looking at our options, looking to see if it's legal. It's true that nothing was signed but there are a lot of messages with agents and their president that, at the very least, need to be looked at."

On Monday afternoon, it seemed as though the deal was done, "At five in the afternoon, we arrived at an agreement; with the agent, with the player and with Girondins. It was done and we had permission to bring the player to Roma for a medical. There was a flight scheduled at nine of clock and he would arrive at 11. We were calm."

He continued: "After the meeting, it surprised me that the agents and Bordeaux wanted an even better offer and that Barcelona were pressing for an agreement. I said no because we didn't want to get involved in an auction and we couldn't continue like that. Yesterday, we had lifted out offer to the wishes of our president. And that's how it ended."

Monchi added, "The story of Malcom is easy to explain but hard to understand."