Barcelona make BREAKTHROUGH in transfer for €30m wonderkid

Vitor Roque‘s time in La Liga is coming to an end as Barcelona have agreed to sell him.

Despite La Liga allegedly blocking the sale, various outlets and journalists in the Catalan media are now reporting that Vitor Roque will be leaving Barcelona for Palmeiras.

A €25 million fee, as well as €5 million in variables with a 20% sell-on clause for Barcelona (meaning they get 20% of any future fee Palmeiras get by selling the kid) are the terms of the arrangement, reports Roger Torello.

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The young Brazilian striker only joined Barcelona a year ago at the start of 2024 but his adventure in Europe is already over after just one year.

This is not a reflection on Vitor Roque’s quality, but perhaps the financial situation Barcelona find themselves in and their desire to cut their losses on a player they have deemed below the standard they require of their stars.

Vitor Roque had been on loan at Real Betis since the start of the season, where he had been playing well and scoring goals. Barcelona’s need to move him on, however, has superseded that form and he will now return to his native Brazil.

The Story of Vitor Roque

After missing out on Endrick, Deco had Barcelona accellerate their pursuit of Vitor Roque, agreeing to sign him in the summer of 2023 with the proviso that he would only join in January 2024.

Vitor Roque was a rough-and-tumble striker who lacked polish but definitely had an eye for goal. He looked to be an ideal understudy for Robert Lewandowski with plenty of time to learn from the Polish striker.

He even proved a useful super-sub, scoring twice in two games for the Blaugrana soon after joining. But an unlucky red card saw him miss the next 3 games and he never really recovered from that. Seeing a young challenger, Lewandowski’s form picked up tremendously and former-manager Xavi found it hard to get minutes for Vitor Roque and he languished on the bench or got poor minutes out wide or in a fully rotated side.

A loan to Real Betis looked like it was getting him settled in Europe. After the first half of the season he had 7 goals for the Andaluscian outfit.

But Barcelona wanted to balance their books, and when Palmeiras showed an interest in signing the young Brazilian, the Blaugrana did not hesitate.

The fee of €25m is just about the money that is left to pay on Vitor Roque’s initial €30m transfer fee. Amortisation will have taken enough off that this deal essentially erases any debt owed for Vitor Roque and balances the books.

Cleaning up financial messes has been a hallmark of the Joan Laporta presidency, albeit this time the mess is one completely of their own making and they should have let Vitor Roque stay in Brazil to develop.

It’s a big setback for Vitor Roque, but at 19 years-old he has plenty of time to recover. And funnily enough, Palmeiras will be playing in the upcoming FIFA Club World Cup while Barcelona won’t be, so he gets an immediate measure of revenge on the team who have treated him so badly.