The transfer of Vitor Roque to FC Barcelona had sparked a lot of criticism, with many judging that the Brazilian was not worth the 30 million euros (more variable) paid. Arriving in the middle of the season, he never convinced Xavi and played very little, which reinforced the criticism towards the management and the role of Deco in the operation. Failing to establish himself, Roque was first loaned to Betis, before finally being transferred permanently by Barça. The Blaugrana sporting director managed to sell it to Brazil for 25.5 million euros plus 5 million in variables, thus covering the remaining depreciation and almost recovering the amount invested, while retaining 20% of a future resale.
Since then, Barça has closely followed his performances. And these are impressive: with Palmeiras, Vitor Roque has scored 20 goals and delivered 6 assists in 40 matches played this year, a far cry from his statistics in Spain (6 goals in 36 matches with Barça and Betis). Faced with such a performance, the possibility of a departure from Palmeiras begins to become clearer and the player himself has expressed his ambition to return to Europe. “My dream is to come back to Europe and adapt again. God willing, I will continue working here in Palmeiras, this is my current goal… And in the future I will return to Europe”he declared with the Brazilian selection. In the event of resale, Palmeiras will logically seek to make a capital gain, which could ultimately allow Barça to derive an overall benefit from the Vitor Roque operation and emerge a winner from this deal.
