Barcelona starlet Vitor Roque looks as if he will be heading straight back out of the Catalan capital six months after arriving, as the Blaugrana look to give him some experience in European football.
Roque has featured for just 310 minutes, and Xavi Hernandez’s lack of faith in him, combined with the fact that the Blaugrana will have to register him as a new signing this summer amid their transfer struggles, mean that a loan move beckons for the Brazilian.
It emerged on Wednesday that two of the sides interested in him were Real Betis and Sevilla, to which Sport now add Girona and Valencia. The idea is for Roque to stay in Spanish football, and be loaned out without an option to buy. So far Roque and his agent Andre Cury have been reluctant to contemplate a loan exit, but the latter will travel to Barcelona this month to settle the matter one way or another.
Betis and Barcelona have done a number of deals in recent years, including for Chadi Riad, Ez Abde and Juan Miranda, and while relations with Girona have been strained at times, there have been moves for Oriol Romeu, Eric Garcia and Pablo Torre going both ways. If Michel Sanchez stays at Girona, he and Ruben Baraja have the best record of extracting performances from young talent over the last two seasons, while the Catalan side probably play the most similar style to what Barcelona are seeking.