It is not usual for Barcelona fans to find out about the arrival of a new player through a statement from another club, but that’s what happened with Vitor Roque.
When the 18-year-old striker’s signing was made official in August, Barcelona agreed with Athletico Paranaense and the player that he would join in January. The deal was worth €30million (£25.7m; $32.3m) — plus as much again in potential add-ons.
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However, Barca’s usual financial problems, and especially their trouble conforming with La Liga’s salary limit rules, left senior club figures doubting whether that would actually happen since.
In September, Barcelona had their spending cap cut to €270million by La Liga, with their wage bill standing at over €400m. The competition body does not allow clubs who are overspending on wages to register new players.
But last weekend, Paranaense decided to announce that Roque was on his way — before anyone at Barcelona had confirmed the news.
“The game against Santos will be the last chance to see Vitor Roque play before he completes his move to Europe,” the Brazilian club wrote on social media.
UM ATÉ BREVE! ⚡️🔴⚫️
O último ato ao lado da torcida athleticana. O jogo contra o Santos será o último do Vitor Roque na Ligga Arena antes do embarque para a Europa. #Athletico pic.twitter.com/D1is2s6FIF
— Athletico Paranaense (@AthleticoPR) December 2, 2023
Staff at Barcelona were surprised by the announcement, one that came late on a Saturday night, local time. They weren’t expecting it. In early November, executive club sources — who, like all those cited in this article, wanted to remain anonymous to protect relationships — said it was unlikely Roque would arrive in January.
Barca’s sporting director Deco, who played a key role in Roque’s signing, travelled to Brazil for family reasons during the November international break, when he also took time to meet the young striker. He told him the club couldn’t offer full guarantees that the January plan would be followed unless something changed.
The day after Paranaense’s social media message, Barca were hosting Atletico Madrid in La Liga. Interviewed by Spanish broadcaster Movistar, Deco confirmed the news from the Barcelona end: “Yes, we and the coaching staff agreed to bring Vitor Roque in. He’ll be another asset available for the manager and will help the team.”
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So how can Barcelona register Roque? There is a very simple explanation: Gavi’s long-term absence.
The 19-year-old’s recent anterior cruciate ligament injury, suffered playing for Spain in November, means he will be out for the rest of the season, with a rough recovery period of eight months at least. His loss is damaging, but it opened a window to add a new signing this winter.
This is because La Liga’s rules on financial controls also include a special section that gives clubs flexibility in case a registered player suffers an injury that will keep them out for longer than four months.
According to article 77 of La Liga’s financial regulations, the affected club can register a replacement so long as their wages do not exceed 80 per cent of the injured player’s.
Both Barcelona and La Liga sources have confirmed the salary space freed up in this case by Gavi will be more than enough to register Roque.
Roque scored 12 goals this season (Gabriel Machado/NurPhoto via Getty Images)Gavi’s contract registration itself is a tricky one, as he was granted first-team status only because of a temporary court resolution that followed a legal appeal from Barcelona last year.
The complex dispute is still to be finally resolved, but La Liga sources confirmed to The Athletic that, for this season’s salary-limit calculations, the contract extension he signed last year is, for now, valid in their eyes.
And this is not the final complication surrounding Roque’s status. La Liga rules also state he can only be registered as a replacement for Gavi for four months. This means it is likely that Barcelona will choose to complete his registration towards the end of January, so he will be eligible for the rest of the domestic season, which ends in late May. It will also give him some time to get up to speed with the group in training.
Next summer though, Barcelona will need to register Roque again — club sources believe they will be able to manage that with no problems.
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For now, Roque will be able to play for Barcelona from January as Gavi’s substitute, even though they are completely different players. The Brazilian teenager will fight for minutes with the team’s top goalscorer, Robert Lewandowski.
Roque was joint-top scorer at the South American U-20 Championship (Guillermo Legaria Schweizer/Getty Images)Roque ended the 2023 season in Brazil with 12 goals to his name from 25 appearances in the country’s top flight. In total, he has scored 28 times for Paranaense in 81 games since making his senior debut for the club in April 2022, aged 17. He played his first match for Brazil’s senior team in March.
Deco and Xavi decided to put Roque as their priority signing in winter for two reasons: one was to stand by the club’s word and deliver what they promised last summer. They also assessed that it would be practically impossible to find an adequate midfield replacement for Gavi.
As revealed by local media outlet Mundo Deportivo this week, Roque is now expected to join Xavi’s squad on December 28, when Barca’s first team will resume training after the Christmas break.
As the club continues to adapt following the blow of Gavi’s injury, Xavi now at least will soon have an extra talent to call on, a much-desired new (and young) striker who has half a season to start learning from a role model in Lewandowski.
This half-season is also seen as a convenient time for Roque to get adjusted to life in Europe without the pressure of being a starting forward. Lewandowski will turn 36 next summer, so the club need to start succession planning.
Last summer, Deco identified Roque as a market opportunity Barca couldn’t miss out on. He had been monitoring the youngster for some time, operating as Barcelona’s main advisor in the Brazilian market since 2021.
As soon as Deco stepped into his new sporting director role at Barca (he was announced in August 2023, but club sources confirmed he started working in that department before the start of the summer window), he made every effort to land him, a statement signing of his tenure.
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Now it’s on Roque to show he is the type of player Deco always expected, and the striker Xavi needs.
(Top photo: Albari Rosa/AFP via Getty Images)
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