Bailey's agent discusses Roma transfer following Malcom reversal

Leon Bailey's agent Craig Butler has played down transfer rumours linking the Bayer Leverkusen winger to Roma.

The Serie A side were set to sign winger Malcom from Bordeaux this week before the move was sensationally hijacked by Barcelona, who sealed a €41 million (£36.5m/$48m) deal for the 21-year-old.

As a result, Roma are still in the market for new attacking talent, with some sources speculating that they could look to sign Leverkusen's Bailey.

The 20-year-old has been linked with Bayern Munich, while Manchester City also weighed up a move earlier this summer, but Butler says that despite the rumours, there has been no contact made about the Jamaica-born attacker.

“Roma were interested in Leon a couple of years ago, but since then I haven’t heard from the Giallorossi, I spoke with Massara then," Bailey told TeleRadioStereo.

"I do not know Monchi, maybe he does not have my number. Being linked to a great club like Roma is an honour if it were true. I don’t know if Roma are speaking to some intermediary, but they’d have to talk to me.

"It wouldn’t be wise not to listen to Roma, but always respecting our agreement with Bayer Leverkusen, a club that has my respect.”

Bailey was also a reported target of Chelsea back in April, but was advised by Leverkusen captain Sven Bender to ignore the transfer talk and continue his career in the Bundesliga.

"He has got special abilities, he is incredibly fast and great at dribbling," Bender told Goal. "But we did not expect that he would explode that fast. This example shows that football is a fast-paced business.

"It is important that he handles the hype around him correctly and does not want too much too fast. Now everybody comes to him and suddenly wants something from him.

"He is only 20 years old and therefore still has development potential. He is a great player and will probably leave one day for a high fee, but I wish him to stay with us for a long time."