Although the departure of Xavi Hernandez will bring a lot of uncertainty to the FC Barcelona team, one of the individuals who will be looking to take these circumstances as an opportunity to thrive will be the 19-year-old Brazilian striker, Vitor Roque.
While Xavi was in charge, he was in favor of sending the youngster out on a season-long loan, as he believed this would help him get more minutes and get better acclimatized to European football. However, with Xavi’s dismissal, things can change and Hansi Flick could have some use of him in the squad.
According to a report from SPORT, the priority for FC Barcelona remains to send him on a loan this summer, without putting a purchase option in his contract. There are already offers for him on the table, but now it looks more likely that he will stay to do the preseason with the team and decide about his next season in August.
Although he arrived with much fanfare back in January, Vitor Roque has been unable to get many minutes on the pitch this season. He himself wants to stay and succeed at Barcelona, but with the club looking for a loan, a meeting between the Catalan club and Roque’s entourage is scheduled for June.
Barcelona understand that Roque will not be able to have many minutes this season as well, and are also looking to send him on loan to get some space in their wage bill.
However, the youngster himself and his agent both do not want Roque to leave on loan, and if he had to leave Barcelona, they would prefer it to be a definitive sale, especially as there still are sides that are open to paying the Catalans the same sum they paid for him last summer.
The final decision in this regard will be taken by Deco, along with the new coach, Hansi Flick. If several other forwards leave, then Roque can also have the opportunity to stay with the team, but as things stand, Barcelona do not want to keep Roque without playing and thus stagnate his growth and devalue him in the coming months.
Thus, Flick’s appointment can prove to be a lifeline for Vitor Roque, as with Xavi, it was looking highly unlikely that he will have any prominent part in the squad. Now, he will get another chance to impress in the preseason, before the Catalans make a decision about his next season.
