Things continue to get worse for Vitor Roque at Barcelona with reports that their city rivals Espanyol rejected a bargain deal for the striker.
Roque will be leaving the Catalan side next season, with head coach Xavi as good as confirming reports that is already been decided that the 19-year-old won’t be registered for the 2024/25 season.
Barca would prefer a loan, while the player’s agent claims any departure would be permanent and that teams are queuing up to pay €50million for him.
Since those reports emerged, both FC Porto and Inter Milan have been linked with a loan move, while Xavi admitted in his most recent contract that Roque ‘was not supposed to arrive in January’.
Instead, he claimed that the Brazilian was added to the squad when a free spot became available due to Gavi’s long-term injury.
Roque joined in January from Athletico Paranaense in a €30m deal that will likely rise to €60m, but according to Cadena SER, who have been on top of the Roque story, he could have moved to Catalunya months earlier for just €10m.
Journalist Gonzalo Alvarez commented: “The technical secretariat [of Espanyol] ruled out his signing. I don’t know if because they couldn’t afford 10 million or because they saw him as very green player.”
Ouch…
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