Barcelona have reached a six-season deal with Atletico Paranaense's Roque, who will officially join in January 2024. It was a strategic signing for Barcelona, who secured the arrival of the young Brazilian and paid a transfer fee of €30 million, in addition to a floating sum of up to €31 million.
However, Barcelona have room for Roque to join this summer, which is also Xavi's wish. It's up to Barca to free up enough salary space to register him. At the moment, this operation is unlikely to be carried out this summer, because as a player with transfer fees, part of the transfer amortization is already included in the expenditure of this season, so the salary that needs to be released will be close to 25 million euros.
According to a feasibility plan approved by La Liga, Barcelona will be managed at a 50% ratio of income and expenditure, and only two higher-paid players who are sold and able to bring in the financial income will be able to bring in the 18-year-old young striker early.
Currently, the club has four players who meet this condition, that is, those who are considered transferable and who can somehow bring in income: Frank Casey, Eric Garcia, Ferran Torres and Ansu Fathi. Only Barcelona can sell two of those players to bring in Roque this summer.
In this regard, the club is accelerating the departure of Kessie and Ferran, with Barca realising that Fati is still an important player and Eric has the trust of his coach.
However, the feeling at the club so far has not been too rosy, so it seems that Xavi will have to wait a few months to get the attacker to replace Robert Lewandowski.
Spain's newspaper Spearhead noted that Roque's introduction was supported by Xavi and his coaching team. They believe that this is a very young player who has already shown great potential in Brazil. The coaching staff also asked for a little more patience with a player who could play as both a center and a winger, despite the maturity that the player had shown.
Roque joined Cruzeiro at the age of 16. He signed his first professional contract in May 2021 and made his first team debut in October of the same year, and in April 2022 he joined Atlético Paranaense, the same month where he made his debut in the Brazilian Serie A. He has scored seven goals in 13 games this season.
Atletico Paranaense spent €5 million to bring in Roque, which is their most expensive signing, but will also be their most profitable investment, as they will receive a fixed amount of 30 million from Barcelona. If the floating clause is fulfilled, the total transfer will reach 61 million.
Roque's agent is André Curry, a former advisor to Barcelona in Brazil who worked for Barcelona's former presidents, Sandro Roussel and José María Bartomeu. At the time, the consultant was paid €700,000 a year.
He helped Barca bring in players such as Matius Fernandes, Mina, Emerson, Artur, Vitinho, Gomes, Santos and others, none of whom gained a foothold at Barca, but Barca made some profit after letting them go.
In any case, in Barca's current economic difficulties, spending up to 61 million euros to scratch a "lottery ticket" in Brazilian football still raises questions. If Roque fails at Barca, it will be an even worse blow to Barca's already bad situation.