In the last few days, FC Barcelona had been involved in one of the more complicated transfer operations, as they looked to sell their loanee, Vitor Roque, to the Brazilian club Palmeiras.
The operation was quite peculiar for various reasons. For one, the player to be transferred was already sent on a year-long loan to Real Betis in the last summer transfer window, with the Verdiblancos having the right to permanently buy him in the summer or extend his loan for another season. Thus, the Seville side had to be taken into consideration for any proposed move of Roque.
Secondly, if completed, the move would also have been undertaken at a time when the transfer window was still open in Brazil but had been closed in Spain for a few weeks.
As SPORT has reported, this second aspect ultimately resulted in the failure of the move. Barcelona made a query to La Liga to understand whether it was possible to undertake a move for Vitor Roque at this point in time.
The league authority responded in the negative, as they pointed to article 159.2 of RFEF general regulations, which addresses the situations in which loans can be resolved before their stipulated time has passed.
La Liga interpreted this regulation to mean that Roque’s transfer cannot take place currently, as the transfer market was closed in Spain, and thus, the Brazilian’s loan to Real Betis cannot be broken.
Technically, La Liga didn’t block the striker’s potential move to Brazil. Instead, Barcelona themselves believed the move would not be legal based on advice from league officials and decided to back out after consulting them.
Still, the failure of this move must have been a disappointment for the Blaugranes, as this was a good opportunity for them to cut their losses on Roque, while still keeping a percentage of rights on a player who is still only 20 years of age.
