Deco speaks on Vitor Roque’s failed Barcelona stint: ‘Xavi wanted him’ | OneFootball

Barcelona sporting director Deco has this week provided an insight into some of the details which culminated in Vitor Roque’s spell at the club not working out.

Frontman Roque of course brought a permanent close to his short-lived and altogether forgetful Barcelona career earlier this year.

Just over a year on from arriving in Catalunya’s capital from Brazil, the youngster headed back to his home country, with Palmeiras.

Prior to this, Roque had already been farmed out on loan to Manuel Pellegrini’s Real Betis, after failing to sufficiently impress incoming Barca head coach Hansi Flick.

And as alluded to above, this week, Deco has opened up on exactly what he feels went wrong for the 20-year-old in Spain.

Speaking during an interview with Brazilian outlet Globo, as cited by Diario Sport, the man who oversaw Roque’s Camp Nou switch was questioned on the young attacker’s whirlwind 12 months.

And Deco, in a lengthy response confirming that Xavi was a key figure in the transfer being pushed forward, went on to explain:

“We were not wrong in the concept, because Robert Lewandowski was then 34 or 35 years old and we were already thinking about taking over from him for the future. That is the idea for which we signed Vitor.

“He is a footballer who moves very well between the lines, who scored goals at Athlético Paranaense. The idea was there and we put it into practice. Then, things can work out for several reasons that you don’t control and others that you can control and we don’t control.

“For me, his arrival process was complicated because it was carried out in January and this harmed him; it was a mistake.

“We always listen to the coach’s opinion in the decisions we make. When Gavi was injured, due to financial fair play issues, we could not bring any important players for this position. It was then that we brought forward Vitor Roque’s arrival and adaptation process by six months, which should have happened in the summer, at the start of this season. We were wrong.”

Conor Laird – GSFN