The suspense is over. Vitor Roque got on the plane yesterday to Las Palmas with the team led by Xavi Hernández and landed registered in LaLiga. The confirmation of the bureaucratic procedure came after nine at night, an atypical time for any club except one installed in the shock like the Blaugrana.
Slowly but surely, the young 18-year-old forward has been integrating since he arrived in Barcelona on December 27. He is comfortable, happy and pleased with the support he has received from the club. He has yet to personally meet president Joan Laporta, who has been traveling in recent weeks to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates in search of new economic agreements to achieve more income that will alleviate the delicate situation that the club is experiencing, which continues without salary margin to enroll.
Barcelona already assured before taking off for the Canary Islands that there would be no problem registering the Brazilian. This was achieved by taking advantage of article 77 of the LaLiga regulations, taking advantage of Gavi’s long-term injury. According to the wording of this article, the regulations allow 80 percent of the cost of the injured player to be used to register Roque only until June 30.
Joan Laporta is not expected to travel to Las Palmas. So, barring any setbacks, player and president will meet in person tomorrow at Barcelona’s sports city, when the official presentation of the player should take place.
The one who already knows him quite well is Xavi. The coach has personally ensured that his new striker begins to imbibe the style of play in order to achieve the improvement that the coach so craves. “We have done several video sessions. The adaptation is being very good because a lot of care has been taken these months,” Xavi said yesterday. But he also called for patience. Aware of the expectation caused by the arrival of Roque, signed in August paying Athletico Paranaense 30 million euros and another 31 in variables, Xavi wanted to protect him: “We will go little by little with him, we cannot burden him with responsibility because he is 18 years”. The coach explained that he has had help: “Raphinha has acted as his guide and there is also Araújo, who speaks Portuguese.”
With the arrival of 2024, Xavi hopes that his forceful speech to the players at half-time of the match against Almería will have an effect. “The message arrived. I think we needed to speak clearly and emphatically. Hopefully in Las Palmas you will see a Barça like the one in the second half against Almería. “It’s time to talk in the field,” he said.
Despite being registered, Roque is not expected to premiere in Las Palmas. Everything indicates that he could do it in the Copa del Rey on Sunday against Barbastro. What Vitor Roque already knows for sure is the number he will wear. It is number 19, a number that up to 18 other footballers have worn throughout history. The last one was Kessié. Before, Ferran Torres and Kun Agüero took it. Vitor Roque has never worn number 19 before. During his time in Brazil with Cruzeiro and Athletico Paranaense he defended numbers 27, 39 and 9. Precisely, the latter is the number of his main competition, Lewandowski, although in Xavi’s eyes both They can cohabit in the same eleven.