The reporter reported coldly Returning to Palmeiras from La Liga for 25 million euros, Roque, who only joined Barcelona at the beginning of last year, broke the record for transfer fees for Brazilian and South American leagues. It's an exciting deal for Brazilian centre-forward talent and Palmeiras. Betis, who had previously loaned Roque, received financial rights worth 4.5 million euros from this loan that ended early. The only loser in the deal was Barcelona, who blindly 'compared' with Real Madrid two years ago and gambled on Brazil's semi-finished products to end in failure. However, Barcelona lost the future center superstar, at least 25 million euros in transfer fee gains, allowing Yamal and Inigo Martinez to complete the contract extension, and finally no one lost money.
In recent years, Real Madrid's strategy of digging semi-finished products from Brazil has been very successful, and the semi-finished products Vinicius and Rodrygo obtained from Brazil at a high price are imposing, and despite Barcelona's financial difficulties, Laportaj insists on "comparing" with the sworn enemy Real Madrid. At the end of 2022, Real Madrid made a splash when they signed talented goalscorer Endrick from Palmeiras for up to 72 million euros, which made Barcelona have to react quickly and reciprocally. In the summer of 2023, Barcelona decisively signed 18-year-old Brazilian talented goalscorer Roque from Atlético Paranaense as a reinforcement against Real Madrid in the market.
At that time, Roque's market value was only 30 million euros, and Barcelona invested 40 million + 21 million euros in floating clauses and 13 million taxes and fees, with a maximum expenditure of 74 million euros. Real Madrid signed Endrick for a transfer fee of 35 million + 25 million euros, together with 12 million euros in taxes and fees, totaling 72 million. Roque's highest transfer fee surpassed Endrick's, second only to Neymar (88.4 million euros), becoming the "runner-up" of Barcelona's recruitment from Brazil and the transfer fee of Brazilian players exported overseas.
Laporta has high hopes for Roque, with a six-year contract and liquidated damages of up to 500 million euros. After signing with Real Madrid, Endrick will have to train in Brazil for another year before joining Real Madrid in the summer of 2024. Barcelona, who signed Roque in the summer of 2023, could not let him join immediately due to financial constraints, so Roque, who just turned 18 in January 2024, could only join the team in the winter.
Endrick joined Real Madrid half a year later than Roque, but Roque did not become Barcelona's version of Vinicius or Rodrygo because he played in La Liga ahead of schedule. He only started 2 times in 20 La Liga games in the half season, and the remaining 12 games were all substitutes, and he was sent off for a game against Alaves. Together with the two Copa del Rey games, Roque played just 353 minutes combined.
Regarding Roque's failure in Barcelona, Roque's team revealed to "World Sports" that Barcelona coach Xavi almost did not communicate with Roque, which made the Brazilian teenager who entered Barcelona alone cry for a while. Roque's agent Curry publicly blasted Xavi and Barça's sporting director Deco for this, believing that they did not cultivate and take care of Roque better, and the relationship between the two sides broke down completely. Due to the financial difficulties of last summer, the player registration crisis broke out, and Barcelona could only sell Roque, who had just joined the team for half a year. Roque did not want to make a high bid for Riyadh Crescent, and Barcelona were unwilling to accept an under-priced offer of 20 million + 10 million euros from Sporting, and eventually loaned him out to Betis for a higher offer.
In February, Brazilian giants Palmeiras bid €25 million for an 80% ownership of Roque. Barcelona, Betis and Palmeiras have all reached an agreement, but Roque's transfer has been halted by La Liga for irregularities. Because Roque's transfer needs to end his loan and return to Barcelona first, but the La Liga transfer window has closed, and the loan deal that ended early cannot be completed. Secondly, Barcelona were unable to register new players returning from loan due to financial constraints. However, Barcelona used the FIFA transfer rule that allows clubs to sell players overseas after the market is closed, and finally succeeded in obtaining FIFA's approval for the deal.
Barcelona persuaded Betis to terminate Roque's loan contract early, but had no cash compensation and had to sell 30% of Aboud for 4.5 million euros. Roque's transfer fee of 25 million + 5 million floating clause is a new record for the transfer fee of Brazilian and South American leagues. The 25 million euros in transfer fee income will be credited before the end of the current fiscal year on June 30, which will allow Yamal and Inigo Martinez to complete the contract renewal and successfully register in La Liga, which is also the last and only "contribution" Roque made to Barcelona.
Roque's Barcelona superstar dream was completely shattered, and as a Brazilian semi-finished product of Barcelona's "big gamble" with Real Madrid, he caused Barcelona to lose as much as 28 million euros in transfer fees. In contrast, Real Madrid's Endrick, who has scored six goals in 25 appearances this season, is still methodically being groomed to become the next Brazilian semi-finished superstar. In the competition with Real Madrid to develop a semi-finished Brazilian superstar, Barcelona was a complete defeat.