It appears increasingly clear that Barcelona have little intention of seeing how 19-year-old Brazilian forward Vitor Roque develops in the coming seasons. The Catalan giants seem much more focused on recouping the €30m they spent on the teenager, but that does not necessarily tally with the interests of Roque himself.
Moving on loan to Real Betis, in a deal that Betis can extend, and then purchase 80% of his rights for €25m, Roque was keen to try and triumph in La Liga this season. He rejected a more lucrative offer for Barcelona from Sporting CP, and the Blaugrana ended up doing a loan deal with Los Verdiblancos.
So far, things are yet to quite go to plan. Roque won a starting spot under Manuel Pellegrini not long after arriving, but lately has started dropping out of the starting XI in favour of Cedric Bakambu. This season Roque has seven goals and has assisted twice in his 30 appearances, of which 18 were starts.
In the January transfer window, Betis then forked out €13m on deadline day to sign competition in the shape of Cucho Hernandez from Columbus Crew. That has been coupled with reports that Betis have no intention of extending his loan or exercising their purchase option.
Robert Lewandowski: “When Lamine Yamal came to train with us, I asked him how old he was. I found out that he was 15. I replied that it was impossible. It was the first time I saw a boy who impressed me so much, and I admit that it’s difficult for someone to impress me. Honestly,…
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) February 12, 2025
That in theory paved the way for Palmeiras to make a move before the end of February, when the Brazilian transfer window closes. O Verdao were previously willing to make a €27m offer for 80% of Roque’s rights, and earlier this week it was reported that they were willing to do a deal with Barcelona if they could negotiate the end of his loan at Betis ahead of time.
Now MD report that this will not go through though: both Real Betis and Roque are clear that they have no intention of doing so. They will no doubt be reluctant to weaken their squad in a season where European qualification looks trickier, and they remain in the Conference League. Los Verdiblancos face
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