Roma's sporting director has still not recovered from the shock provoked by his last call to FC Barcelona. He knew doing business with the Catalans would not be easy but he was left stunned. The Roma sporting director is looking for a young forward with mobility in attack and hoped to bring in Munir El Haddadi. Knowing the player's time at Barcelona is not expected to last much longer after he was sent on loan to Valencia, he hoped to arrange a reasonable price. Especially with the good relationship between the clubs recently - Digne, Vermaelen -... but he couldn't have been more wrong.

Monchi called Barcelona but whoever picked up the phone was not as receptive as the former Sevilla sporting director hoped. The result was Barcelona telling him that Munir was only available for transfer and for 25 million euros. The Catalans were unwilling even to negotiate a deal with clauses and bonuses. Roma have pulled out of the race for the forward, who is widely admired but no club has matched Barcelona's expectations. It remains to be seen if Robert Fernandez has an ace up his sleeve and wants to seal a deal with a different club after the player gets back from the USA.