Barça seeks legal loophole to sell Vitor Roque

BarcelonaWhether Vitor Roque is no longer a Barça player depends on "the regulations of the Spanish Federation and FIFA", according to sources close to the player at ARA. The Brazilian striker, who landed in Barcelona last January and packed his bags for Betis in the summer on loan, could return to his country just one year after making the jump to Europe. Roque's signing remains a hot potato for the Catalan club, which is now trying to sell him half a season after having loaned him to the Andalusian team.

Barça signed the forward in the summer of 2023 - in exchange for 30 million fixed and 31 more in variables - with the expectation that he would arrive at Barcelona the following summer, but his incorporation was brought forward to January 2024. It was an operation led by the sporting director Deco and the football representative Nandez. Halfway through the season at Barça, the 19-year-old Brazilian played in just 16 games (14 in the League and two in the Cup) and scored two goals.

His lack of participation led to a public outburst from Cury directed at the former coach, accusing him of not giving him any explanation for his lack of trust in his client. The signing has also had a backlash beyond the sporting aspect, because Víctor Font, second in the last elections for the presidency of Barça, asked Deco for explanations for the signing, which did not please the sporting director at all, who has filed this lawsuit in court, understanding that Font insinuated that there was malfeasance in Roque's incorporation.

Hansi Flick also did not count on Vitor Roque

With the change in the dugout, Roque's luck at Barcelona did not change either: Hansi Flick was not in the picture. A visit by a Betis delegation to Barcelona unblocked his departure with a loan agreement for one season plus an optional one and an option to buy. Wearing the green and white shirt he has participated in a total of 33 matches spread between the League, Cup and Conference League and has scored 7 goals.

Since the winter transfer market, his role has diminished due to the additions of Anthony and Cucho to the Betis forward line and, despite the fact that Betis would like to keep him because they are fighting in the League to enter European competitions and Cucho has not been able to be registered in the Conference League, Barça's intention is to transfer him. The recipient would be Palmeiras, who would pay a figure of around 25 million euros to obtain 80% of the player's rights. That amount is what Barça needs in order not to lose money. Roque is open to returning to Brazil, where he began to make a name for himself in the ranks of Athletico Paranaense.

The legal obstacle to being able to sell Vitor Roque now

The problem, apart from compensating Betis for the loss of its player three months before the end of the season, is how to unblock the operation normatively. Article 159.2 of the general regulations of the Spanish Football Federation defines that a loan can only be broken early "within the registration periods provided for", as reported by the channel. JijantesIn Spain, the transfer market and the registration period for new players closed on 3 February. This prevents Barça from undoing the loan with Betis and recovering the player to loan him out again, in this case to Palmeiras, which should sign him at the end of the season. Nor is it legally foreseen that the Andalusian club will carry out the new loan.

But the legal department of the Barcelona club is sticking to the rules Regulations on the status and transfer of players of FIFA, which in its article 5.2 states that, although "a player can only be registered with one club for the purpose of playing organised football [...], as an exception he can be registered with one club for technical reasons to ensure transparency in consecutive individual transactions". These "technical reasons" for carrying out the transaction are used by Barça to be able to interrupt the loan and transfer the player to a Palmeiras that is already waiting for him.