Why is Vitor Roque leaving Barcelona already? How many games did he play?

Vitor Roque is expected to leave Barcelona permanently in the coming days, with the LaLiga giants having accepted an offer from Portuguese club Sporting CP for the Brazil international, who only joined the club in January.

Will Barcelona get their money back for Vitor Roque?

Sporting director Deco, the man who agreed to sign the 19-year-old’s from Athletico Paranaense last summer, has been in Lisbon to negotiate a sale, with Sporting set to pay €30 million ($33.11 million) for the striker, the same initial figure the Catalans reportedly spent on him.

It is understood Barcelona rejected loan offers for the Brazilian as they looked to offload him to a new club. However, if the deal goes through as expected, they will have a buy-back clause.

Barça unable to register Dani Olmo in LaLiga

The club’s financial problems in recent years have been well documented and they have been unable to register new signing Dani Olmo due to LaLiga’s salary cap. Roque’s departure would give Barça a little more room to manoeuvre, one of the main reasons they were so keen on a permanent transfer.

The teenager joined La Blaugrana to much fanfare in the winter, with the hope being he could emulate the success of compatriots Vinícius Júnior and Rodrygo with arch rivals Real Madrid.

Vitor Roque’s short Barcelona spell in numbers

However, things haven’t worked out that way. The striker had a limited impact in the second half of last season and Barcelona’s financial mismanagement means patience is in short supply as they look to keep up with Los Blancos.

Roque made his Barça debut as a substitute in a 2-1 win over Las Palmas on January 4, 2024 and made 16 appearances in all competitions (14 in LaLiga), scoring twice.

The forward started just two games, was an unused substituted in four Champions League fixtures and played only 353 minutes for the club, an average of just over 22 minutes per appearance.