Betis have secured the loan of Vitor Roque, the 19-year-old Barcelona striker who had become the Andalusian team’s main target after the departures of Borja Iglesias, Willian José and Ayoze, their three attackers from last season. Roque, a player who inspires Betis and who has the full confidence of the coach, Manuel Pellegrini, arrives on loan for one season. However, the club will have the possibility of extending this loan for another year if it comes to an agreement with Barcelona. In addition, it will have an option to buy at the end of this season and the next. Of 25 million euros at the end of this season and 27.5 the second. However, Barcelona would always have the possibility of keeping Vitor if he breaks into the Betis team at the end of this campaign. The loan is at zero cost and the Andalusian club will pay the striker’s salary, of three and a half million euros. There is no so-called fear clause, so the footballer will be able to face the Catalan team.
Betis had been targeting Vitor Roque for some time. In order to convince the player and Barcelona itself, Betis sent an expedition to Barcelona led by Joaquín Sánchez, a legend of the Andalusian club and now a member of the club’s technical secretariat, led by Manu Fajardo. “With Vitor’s arrival, the squad is complete and balanced. He is the striker we want,” said Manuel Pellegrini. The Andalusian team has won a battle in which teams such as Sporting de Portugal, who were even willing to pay a transfer fee for the player, were in the running.
Vitor Roque has only been at Barça for half a season. Although the Blaugrana closed his signing in the summer of 2023 for 30 million euros, plus another 31 in variables, the striker landed in the winter market. It was not the right time, neither for the club nor for the 19-year-old attacker. The idea of Barcelona’s sporting management was for Vitor Roque to stay the entire last season in Brazil. However, after Gavi’s serious injury, the team needed to strengthen. At that time, according to sources from the Blaugrana club, Xavi asked for Roque’s arrival to be brought forward. The problem was that he landed out of shape, still lacking rhythm after overcoming an ankle injury that had relegated him to the infirmary for three months.
Roque soon lost confidence. Those who know him say that adapting to Barcelona was difficult: “New country, new language, new club, new style of play. Everything new for a 19-year-old kid. You had to be patient.” And, according to the same sources, Xavi was not. “He came home after training crying.”
Roque felt that he had been treated unfairly. In 16 games (353 minutes) he had scored two goals and, according to the striker, “his performance had not been bad”. The coaching staff, on the other hand, spoke of a lack of level. This discrepancy, added to the fact that Hansi Flick believes that a change of scenery would be better for Roque, forced the Brazilian’s agent to find him a way out. Sporting de Portugal seemed willing to pay the 30 million that Barça had invested until Betis intervened. “We were more convinced by the option of the Spanish league. He will play more minutes and is a team with a cheerful style of play,” explain Barcelona. Betis is renewing with Vitor a policy of collaboration with Barcelona that has had positive results for both teams. It already happened in the cases of Emerson and Chadi Riad.
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