The operation to acquire a certain Vitor Roque is well and truly underway within the Barcelona management. The team understands that the 18-year-old is gathering attention and if they are to storm ahead of the competition, they must act as quickly as possible.
In that regard, Spanish news outlet SPORT has claimed that the approach Barcelona are looking to take is similar to that of what Paris Saint-Germain did with Kylian Mbappe in 2017.
It must be remembered that Mbappe moved to PSG in 2017 on an initial loan deal with a mandatory purchase option. The fee set for the transfer was said to be €145 million plus €35 million in add-ons, essentially taking it to €180 million, thus making him the most expensive teenager in the history of the sport.
As it turns out, Barcelona are looking to execute the same modus operandi. Given the difficulties with regard to the Financial Fair Play, they want to delay the payment for Roque’s permanent move while also acquiring him as soon as possible.
This means the teenager, who is valued at €35 million, will be first acquired on loan and a year later, his deal will be made permanent. This way, Barcelona can silence potentially all the suitors, which involves PSG as well.
Interestingly enough, Roque has been in excellent form this year, having scored nine goals in 11 matches in 2023. This return is extraordinarily excellent compared to that of Endrick, who has signed to become the future Real Madrid player. To put things in perspective, Endrick hasn’t been on the scoresheet in 12 games in two months.
As far as Roque’s transfer is concerned, what works in Barcelona’s favour is the fact that the player himself is keen on a move to Camp Nou. On top of that, his agent, Andre Cury, worked as an executive of the Cule technical secretariat in South America for a decade.
Furthermore, Roque’s current team Club Athletico Paranaense do not wish to force their player into an auction and this works absolutely well in Barcelona’s favour.
Roque is someone who has been chosen by the technical secretariat of Barcelona and the roadmap for him is to get him this summer so that he can grow under the influence of Robert Lewandowski.
