Barcelona are hoping to have a very big summer, although to do that, they need to raise money for a significant number of signings. They received €13.3m as part of the deal that saw Nico Gonzalez move from FC Porto to Manchester City, but more funds will be needed in order for their ideal transfer window to be achieved.
Another possible source of income involves Vitor Roque. The Brazilian striker is on loan at Real Betis for the season, and included in that agreement is a buy option worth €25m. Given that Barcelona do not appear to count on the 19-year-old, they will be hoping that this gets triggered in the summer.
However, that looks unlikely to happen, according to MD. The report states that Betis are not expected to splash out on Roque, given that they have just spent €13m to bring in Juan “Cucho” Hernandez from MLS side Columbus Crew.
Betis president Angel Haro commented on the situation on Wednesday, and rather unsurprisingly, he kept the situation open.
“It’s still too early to see that. We have to have confidence in Vitor, see how the year ends, we have an open possibility, if the two parties agree for his continuity… It is still early days. It’s true that we needed goals in general, not for a specific striker. Now he has one more partner to compete with.”
It is worth noting that Betis have the option to extend Roque’s loan by an additional 12 months, and at this stage, this happening would be the most likely outcome. While he has only scored seven goals in 29 appearances this season, there is little doubt that they see him as a good option to have in Manuel Pellegrini’s squad to compete alongside Hernandez and Cedric Bakambu.
