Vitor Roque was supposed to be Barcelona’s answer to Real Madrid signing Endrick. The Brazilian forward was highly regarded as one of the biggest talents of his generation and joined his dream club back in January.
However, ex-manager Xavi Hernandez did not place much faith in the 19-year-old forward and did not give him many minutes. With the Spanish tactician gone and Hansi Flick at the helm, Roque would have been forgiven for thinking that he would have a new lease of life.
After all, things seemed to falling into place for the Brazilian youngster. His direct competition for the position, Marc Guiu, left Barcelona to join Premier League club Chelsea. It seems like the backup spot to Robert Lewandowski was there for the taking.
However, the Catalan club decided to go ahead and sign Pau Victor from Girona. The 22-year-old Spaniard has hit the ground running with three goals in two pre-season games. Meanwhile, Roque was benched for El Clásico and only played the final 15 minutes, during which his performance left much to be desired.
At this point, it looks clear that Roque does not have a future in Barcelona, at least at present. As per Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano, Al Hilal have made a second approach to convince the Brazilian to come to the SPL but the player has turned down the approach.
Despite being out of favor at Barcelona, the player does not want to leave the club. Transfermarkt currently values Roque at around €30m and the Catalan club would happily accept the cash and let him leave.
At his age, it is detrimental for a player of Roque’s talent to not get game time and he needs to sort his future out. Yes, playing for Barcelona was his dream. Unfortunately, things haven’t worked out as one would have expected.
Al Hilal could do Barcelona a favor by taking Roque out of their hands. However, this will go down as a bad piece of business from the board, especially at a time when the club’s finances aren’t at their best.
