Vitor Roque is Barcelona-bound in January, the striker has confirmed. The 18-year-old signed for the Catalans during the summer, but was forced to continue at Athletico Paranaense due to FFP issues, which would have made it impossible to register him with La Liga.
However, the Blaugrana have been working to bring him into the fold in January and will be doing so, following the season-ending injury to Gavi, which opened the door for Roque’s registration.
Athletico Paranaense confirmed the news on Saturday night and last night, Roque played his final home game for the Brazilian outfit – a 3-0 win over Santos
Roque says goodbye to Athletico
Speaking after the game, Vitor Roque said his goodbye to Athletico Paranaense and announced his impending arrival to Barcelona, stating that his dream has always been to play in Europe.
“I am very happy for everything that is happening in my life,” he said, as quoted by SPORT.
“My dream has always been to play in Europe and to be able to do so at a club as big as Barcelona, where so many Brazilians have triumphed,” he added.
“I’m trying to work as hard as possible in my head so that I can arrive at Barcelona with a lot of humility,” Roque further added.
“What I have to do now is to keep working with humility, this is the key to success, if I do that I’m sure that things will work out well at Barça.”
Eager to get going for Barcelona
Roque then went on to admit that he has been looking forward to play for Barcelona all year and hopes to hit the ground running when he joins the club.
“I hope to arrive prepared for the challenge of playing for Barça, I have worked all year here in Brazil thinking about this moment, about how I would get to Barcelona,” he said.
“My philosophy is always to work, work and work… and always want more, that’s what I’ve done here in Brazil and that’s what I intend to continue applying at Barça.”
Bidding goodbye to Athletico, he added: “I am sure that I have done a successful job, I have tried to help ‘Furacao’ as much as possible and I have given everything for this shirt, I have the feeling of having fulfilled my duty, I have experienced very nice things here.”
“Since I arrived at Athlético Paranaense the fans have welcomed me very well. I’m very happy for everything I’ve experienced here in Curitiba and for the way they’ve supported me.
“Of course I feel a touch of sadness… but, as I said, my dream has always been to be able to play in Europe and, specifically, at Barça, which is a great club that has given me this possibility,” he concluded.
