Barcelona beat Roma to £36.5m signing of Malcom with Bordeaux winger set to undergo medical tomorrow
Roma thought they had secured capture of highly-rated Brazilian and even announced deal but Barca matched offer at last minute and player is now heading to La Liga
BARCELONA have pulled off a late move to hijack Malcom's £36.5million move to Roma.
The highly-rated winger looked to be heading to Serie A after Roma announced they had agreed a fee with Bordeaux to seal the transfer.
Personal terms had been agreed with the Brazilian and some supporters had even made their way to the airport in Rome to greet his arrival.
But at the last moment Barca entered the race by matching Roma's bid - and the 21-year-old is now expected to fly to Spain for a medical tomorrow.
Despite having had their full package signed off by Bordeaux, Roma's offer of a lesser lump sum with a series of instalments making up the full fee looks to have been trumped.
According to reports in Spain, that will see Barca coming up which a much larger fee up front, with the balance to follow in smaller payments.
And crucially the entrance into the market of the La Liga champions has been enough to turn the head of the player who had been set for a switch to Italy.
Barca officials are now preparing to carry out the medical in the next 24 hours, with confirmation of the deal to follow shortly after.
Losing out on Malcom will come as a big blow to Roma, who had pencilled in the player as one to build their side around next season.
But once Barca showed interest and offered almost double in wages, they realised they were being blown away in the battle to sign him.
Most read in football
Premier League clubs Everton and Fulham had both shown an interest in bringing Malcom to England earlier this month.
At one stage Fulham looked to have had a deal in the bag, but a delay in sanctioning it from the London club's end saw them miss their opportunity.
Everton then made a move, but discovered the Roma interest was there and their lack of Champions League football counted against them.