Last summer’s transfer window was coming to an end, and Barcelona urgently needed to take care of Vitor Roque’s situation.
The 19-year-old striker had landed in Spain in January earlier in 2024. Barcelona had made him one of their biggest signings over the past few years with a €30million (£26m; $33m) fixed fee, plus €31m more in add-ons.
The Brazilian was tipped for greatness. He was the club’s bet to replace the 36-year-old Robert Lewandowski long-term. But since then, nothing has worked out for him at Barcelona.
Roque played 353 minutes last campaign under Xavi, scoring two goals, but failed to earn the manager’s trust. This season meant a fresh start, with Hansi Flick replacing Xavi, but even then, Roque failed to find a breakthrough. After being unable to impress in pre-season, all parties decided to move on with a loan deal.
Real Betis made a push in the final days of summer’s transfer window to convince Roque to join them. Club executives, including their legend Joaquin Sanchez, travelled to Barcelona to meet the player and tell him what he could expect from Betis.
They succeeded, and Roque quickly decided to join them. It was always meant to be a loan deal, as Barcelona wanted to monitor his progress and a sale was hardly going to be a profitable piece of business for the Catalan club.
Roque struggled during his time at Barcelona last season (David Ramos/Getty Images)
However, Roque had one specific request to include in the deal: the absence of, as it’s known in Spain, “la clausula del miedo”. Directly translated as the clause of fear, it refers to a common condition among loan deals from one La Liga side to another. This clause is the only way a parent club can avoid a loanee facing them in La Liga.
In other leagues, including the Premier League, footballers cannot face their parent club while on loan due to rules from the nation’s governing body (the English Football Association, in the Premier League’s case). In Spain, however, that is not the case. There have been many examples of loanees taking revenge — Joao Felix scored against Atletico Madrid home and away while wearing a Barcelona shirt last season.
Barcelona always try to include the fear clause in their loan deals (Pablo Torre at Girona and Abde Ezzalzouli at Osasuna are examples), but Roque wanted his chance for vindication. Barcelona, facing a race against the transfer deadline, accepted.
“I needed a change in my life,” the striker said last summer on his presentation day at Betis — as reported by Marca — one that brought him to tears. “I have gone through tough moments, but thanks to my family and God, who was with me in every moment, I have this chance at Betis now and I am so happy about it”.
Barcelona will visit Real Betis this Saturday in La Liga, with Roque being fully fit and ready for the game. His time for revenge should be now — as long as Manuel Pellegrini selects him to start.
After over three months at the club, Vitor Roque has played 18 games for Real Betis, totalling 984 minutes. That nearly trebles the figure he registered in the second half of last season with Barcelona.
He has scored five goals, becoming the team’s joint-second-highest scorer, tied with winger Ezzalzouli and just behind former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Giovani Lo Celso (six). His performances allowed Roque to return to his national youth team, captaining Brazil’s under-20s last September. Those close to the player, speaking under the condition of anonymity to protect relationships, say he has found a better environment in Sevilla to enjoy football again.
Betis went after Roque due to their alarming lack of firepower up front, and he earned a spot as the most-used striker under Pellegrini, overtaking the experienced Ezequiel ‘Chimy’ Avila and Cedric Bakambu.
With all that, we should expect Roque to start against his parent club — but Roque is still a work in progress, as we can expect from a teenager who left his home country for the first time under a year ago.
There have been valuable goals, such as one scored at Osasuna that helped the team get a well-fought victory, or the one he scored during his first game at home to seal a 2-0 win against Leganes. There have also been frustrating moments.
Roque was wasteful this week in their Copa del Rey tie against fourth-tier side Sant Andreu when he missed an almost-open goal and a penalty. But if there’s a game that will stick in the minds of Betis fans it will be October’s local derby against Sevilla, in which Roque missed two big chances and they ended up losing 1-0.
Roque’s performances have been inconsistent at Real Betis too (Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images)
“If you have two open one-against-one (opportunities) in front of the ‘keeper in a Seville derby, you have to score them to get the win,” Pellegrini said just after the game, as reported by AS.
The manager was honest as he summed up Roque’s performances two months ago when the attacker was struggling to score.
As reported by Cadena Ser, Pellegrini said: “We brought in Vitor Roque knowing he is still learning and improving. He has a huge potential. He has missed many goals and if he had scored we would probably be in a different position in the table, but at the same time he would not be playing right now. We really hope he has a bright future at Betis, and the tables will turn and his shots will go in.”
Real Betis are taking care of Vitor Roque’s wages, reportedly around €3million per year, during the loan, which is expected to last for two seasons. They have options to buy Roque at the end of both seasons. The one for the end of this season is €25million, with Barcelona holding a 20 per cent sell-on clause for his next move. In the summer of 2026, that figure rises to €27.5m.
Barcelona have the right to cut the loan short next summer, but given the experience Roque had in Catalonia since the start of this year, this is seen as unlikely.
Barcelona’s dressing-room sources, speaking anonymously to protect relationships, said Roque had a hard time settling into a new life at the club, on and off the pitch, as well as in the dressing room. The fact that Xavi barely used him in matches, and even preferred 18-year-old striker Marc Guiu, now at Chelsea, over him in several games, also took a toll on Roque’s confidence.
The same happened after the arrival of Flick, who put more trust in Pau Victor, who was in Barcelona’s B team, a moment when Roque realised his short-term future would not be at Barcelona.
Roque, however, has a long career ahead of him. As unlikely as it seems that he will return to Barcelona, Roque is now ready for the match he had marked on his calendar as soon as he left on loan.
It is on him now to prove if he can make an impression.
(Top photo: Fran Santiago/Getty Images)
