At times, conflicting reports regarding the motives of FC Barcelona begin to circulate over various outlets and news platforms, resulting in a variety of updates that can not easily be separated between false news and reliable updates.
However, it was no secret that FC Barcelona were advancing an objective of theirs to reinforce the offensive depth this summer following the unforeseen departure of French winger Ousmane Dembele, which in turn left Xavi’s Barca devoid of one of their most creative forwards.
Consequently, Barcelona had hoped to reinforce their forward line by advancing the operation of a particular Brazilian gem, Vitor Roque, who has already signed with La Blaugrana and was originally expected to arrive in January, but instead, the Catalans had hoped for that arrival to be possible this August.
Ultimately however, it seems it will not be possible, as reported by reliable Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano, who has brought forth the statement of Athletico Paranaense’s CEO Mattos, who says that the arrival of Roque to Barcelona will indeed take place in January as was agreed.
“There’s no chance for Vitor Roque to leave and join Barça in August… He (Roque) will leave in January, that was the pact with Barça and it will be respected…”
He also further clarified that it is not only this current iteration of the Brazilian Copa Libertadores that remains the club’s priority and instead they wish to compete for any single game in the league as well as qualification for the next edition of the Libertadores until December, when their official season ends.
“We need him for the final 20 games and to qualify for Copa Libertadores 2024.”
At the moment, it thus seems highly unlikely that a move to Barcelona for the talented 18-year-old Brazilian center forward could occur this summer, as Barcelona continue to search for other possibilities to acquire over the course of August as well.