Barcelona’s answer to Real Madrid’s acquisition of Endrick happens to be Athletico Paranaense’s Vitor Roque. The 17-year-old, who scored 14 goals and five assists for his team this season is being eyed by several top European teams and Barcelona happen to be one of them.
According to Gazzetta dello Sport, given the fact that he turns 18 in February this year, many teams across the continent, including Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal have kept their scouts on high alert.
As it turns out, Barcelona are extremely serious about the young forward and if journalist Gerard Romero (h/t Toni Juanmarti) is to be believed, they want to speed up the process and for that, they are looking to find a formula to convince Athletico Paranaense.
Interestingly enough, the task has been handed out to Deco who is recently catering a deal for Flamengo’s 19-year-old right-back Wesley.
It has been understood that Deco recently had a meeting with Barcelona’s sporting director Mateu Alemany at the Vía Veneto restaurant in Barcelona. While the primary agenda was to discuss Wesley, the former footballer has been tasked to look at the options in the South American market.
The Blaugrana’s sudden thrust into the South American market is justified, to say the very least. After all, they have had difficulties roping in players from the continent of late.
This includes a certain Andrey Santos who chose Premier League side Chelsea over the Catalans. Above all, it must also be remembered that they also missed out on Enzo Fernandez and Julian Alvarez at the start of 2022.
This is where Deco comes into the picture. The former footballer has been working as a scout for the team over the last couple of years and was crucial in the signing of Raphinha last year.
And now, the 45-year-old has been entrusted to carry out the operation for Vitor Roque. The 17-year-old happens to have a €60m release clause in his current deal with Paranaense and is being chased by almost every top club.
So if Barcelona are indeed serious, they might act on it really quickly.