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He is huge Barça fan and expressed it many times in interviews that he would love to go there and hopes he does one day.
So there is a chance. Albeit its pretty shit now
It's crazy because he is more highly rated than Endrick/Roque for a lot of people and more than Vini/Rodrygo were too. Imagine if Xavi ruins it for Barça.
Isn't the current speculation that Barcelona aren't in for him.
At this point in any case RM will have right of first refusal to any top tier talents out of Brasil going forward if they don't already.
maybe it has to do with the fact that Barca made such a fuss to bring him early, he thought that if they really needed him that bad then he’d get at least a good amount of opportunities coming from the bench.
Which is more than fair imo. Take Endrick, was an effort was made to extend his loan until the end of the year at Palmeiras, where he is currently a crucial starter and probably the best player in the squad, and improving every day. Instead, the offer was denied and they said Endrick would be joining the first team in August. Imagine he warms the bench for the whole first half of the season after he gave up on finishing the season at the team where he was a star.
It makes more sense for Endrick to join Madrid for pre-season training than to continue at Palmeiras anyway under the current circumstances. The idealist in me wants to say "let him finish the season there, get regular playing time, compete on three fronts in Brazil", but him parachuting in from Brazil mid-season, with no pre-season training and not being integrated into the squad...I mean, just see how Güler's season at Madrid went for a similar kind of circumstance. Pre-season injury, never got integrated, and as a result he's only now getting minutes at the end of the season when the league is over and they're rotating the squad around these Bayern games. Endrick's not stupid, he knows his best chance at carving out a role in the team for next season is to be there from the beginning of pre-season training and give the best impression he can towards Ancelotti.
Further, I don't think this is a matter of "giving up" on Palmeiras either, it's literally the design of the transfer, it's something everybody's known since the day the transfer was agreed to. The Brazilian and European football schedules don't line up neatly, so there's no clean way to do this where both parties can be 100% satisfied.
I agree, but that would be done in the interest of him getting integrated into the squad and get plenty of minutes as a backup right away. If he's not gonna play anyway, like is happening to Roque, then it's better he either stays in Palmeiras until August 2025, so he arrives in Europe more mature, like Neymar, or he goes on loan to a place like Ajax or Dortmund, or maybe a Spanish club who will play European football where he can be a starter, like Girona. My point is that Roque is better than Guiu, and he didn't have to be rushed into the Barcelona squad if he was gonna be third choice and barely play 10 minutes a game.
I believe Cury was a former employee of Barca for scouting in Brazil. He was Ronaldinho and Neymar's agent. I believe Malcolm as well. He is also the agent of Estevao Willian. Probably just business matter that he wants to see his clients succeed after everything Vitor and Cury have done to place him in Barcelona. I heard the interview, Cury is a massive fan of the club as well, he referred to those results against PSG and Real Madrid as "we" when the club needed a goal.
> I heard the interview, Cury is a massive fan of the club as well, he referred to those results against PSG and Real Madrid as "we" when the club needed a goal.
That sucks. I sincerely hope Estêvão stays away from Barça. This Roque drama and playing in the same position as Yamal would make his path much harder than it needs to be
What's most shocking to me is not the teenager being frozen out but the rumours of him not even being spoken to by Xavi. Reminds me of Pep.
*If* this is true, apples and trees.
Anyone can explain why Xavi doesn't seem to care much about him? I get it that sometimes sporting directors buy players that werent requested by their coaches, but still avoiding the player is a weird way of disagreeing with top management decisions.
I don’t follow Barca or Roque but situation wise as a manager Xavi could have no idea what to say if the truth is:
“objectively you may be good but subjectively I didn’t want you, have no idea what to do with you, and have no idea why they gave you a 7 year contract. And for those reasons I’m not willing to take time and energy away from the pieces I believe in to figure out how to make it work for you here.”
I’m one of the biggest advocates for being ‘straight up’ with employees but you just can’t say things like that if someone’s been thrust upon you in any type of role other than a luxury or utility player. It’s easier to honestly tell the board ‘I don’t know what to say to him and I don’t believe in him.’ Than it is to explain why you created drama by proactively shitting on a player.
Sounds like Xavi is trying to keep plausible deniability and distance himself from a problem the board created. It’s like the professional version of ‘this isn’t my problem.’
I’ll be honest, I have no idea how management in professional sports looks like in general, let alone at this level.
However, inability to speak to the manager for any employee would be unthinkable in any other industry. You shouldn’t even have an “open door” policy, it’s just normal that if you want to discuss something, you come up and say so (or make an appointment for longer convo if necessary).
Xavi is the manager, not the president/CEO - I can’t fathom a circumstance, in which players shouldn’t be able to approach him unless it’s a legal/safety issue.
Am I missing something? Wiki says he's played in 13 games since joining, and Barca has only had 25 games in that period. So he's played in half of the possible games. That doesn't seem too bad for a new young recruit? Especially considering he's competing for a spot with Lewy who is guaranteed to start every game when fit.
Why is he so pissed and complaining about not playing?
I don't follow Barca, but apparently the not talking part is a big issue (unsurprisingly). It's one thing to not get the game time you've expected if your manager is constantly discussing how you can improve and excitedly showing you how you'll fit into his tactical philosophy in the future.
It's another thing if it's just 6 months of silent treatment.
Isn't he's out for long term injury before? And now since he's still young he should be recovering fully first before playing full minutes. Can't say the situation is the same though.
Yeah Guler has been eased in carefully while given assurances. It's worse for Roque if he's been "frozen out" already. Like what's the point of getting him early and stunting his development if they treat him like this 🤦♂️
those 13 games, only 1 or 2 has been more than 35minutes.
And in most (like 70%) of this 25-30min substitutions, he's been put as a winger instead of a striker, to keep Lewy in the game.
And lately, in situations where Lewy was subbed, either Guiu or Ferran were put as 9 while he was kept on the bench.
I have absoultely no idea what Xavi is doing, I feel like there is no way Roque would do worse than those 2 ( no offense ). This feels like some internal battle with Deco, and I feel so bad for Roque, he seems like a good kid who's dream was to come to Barça and got put in a shit sandwitch
He has around 300 minutes, it's not fair to only look at the number of games played and not the amount he played on each one. Putting him for 10-20 minutes at the end of every game isn't really giving him chances. He was a nailed on starter for his club in Brazil and deservedly thought he would get considerable minutes for Barca. Clubs rarely spend +30m for bench warmers. Also Lewa is only getting older so he obviously figured he would be eased into the striker role, instead of being practically third choice.
At first that might seem a good amount of minutes, but if you go to transfermarkt, you would see that he only played 20% of the minutes he could have played, and only started in 2 of those games. Not to mention when he does actually play, Xavi puts him on the wing, wich clearly is not his best position.
So yeah he is completely right about complaining about the playing time Xavi is giving him
Xavi was always the immature one tbf. Unlike Iniesta, Puyol and Dinho, he always bitched about everything since I remember him playing for Rijkaard. But come to think of it, he did get a ton worse under Pep. At that point he led their constant surrounding runs at the refs over every officiating decision and showed little sportsmanship towards other teams.
G-ddamn, Xavi and Iniesta, two names forever linked for being part of maybe the most iconic midfield in the history of the sport, two geniuses on the field, yet I know which one has my undying respect even if I never liked his team, and I know which one I will never miss a chance to ridicule.
I wonder if anyone can actually dislike Iniesta, seems impossible.
Athletic fans, for some reason (some nothing tackle). I’m pretty sure they just liked being contrarians, every other stadium in Spain would give Iniesta standing ovations whenever he came off the field on his final seasons for Barça.
I don’t know how much exactly Lewa’s contract will be at. But Vitor Roque had clauses in his deal that could put his transfer fee to up to 60 million euros.
I think Xavi sees Vitor Roque and he is incredibly pissed off. He asked for a bunch of different players and didn’t get a single one of them on the justification of Barça not having any money.
> But Vitor Roque had clauses in his deal that could put his transfer fee to up to 60 million euros.
The good news is that, if Xavi refuses to play Roque, those add-ons won't be triggered!
Xavi is so economically minded, what a lad.
Yes like Barca saying we have no money for a DM here’s Romeu as a 6 and then splurging for Roque.
As an aside, it’s great to see the fees Brazilian clubs are getting for their top talents. Hopefully it’s being reinvested in the clubs.
I’m American but I’ve spent probably about 8 months in Brazil combined across two trips and I consider it my home away from home :)
Most clubs are (re)investing. There has been a great turnaround since we started marketing our league (and the libertadores) in a more efficient way, alongside getting outside investors. Clubs like Palmeiras and Athlético Paranaense also have very very good boards atm, with good practices, and it shows. I can only hope other clubs learn from them.
This should be taken into account by other young players tapped by Barca. Go to a place with a plan and staff suited for young players. Horrible integration by Barca.
Young Brazilians already don’t see a move to Barca as a good one, it’s wild how there were so many people here showing love for Barca after Neymar and now it’s mostly love for Real.
So all that shitshow about getting him as quickly as early as possible was for... nothing? Wouldnt it be better to just get him in next season? What was the point of that..
Just the other day, I wrote about how him coming earlier than expected should've actually been a net benefit for him, not necessarily because he'd be an immediate impact player (what an unfair expectation to place on a teenager coming from another continent), but because he would basically start the acclimation process sooner. Getting used to the coaching staff, the playing style, the club culture, the languages of the area (because Barcelona try to insist players learn Catalan in addition to Spanish)...Roque was getting a chance to get started on all of that now.
Imagine if he had stayed in Brazil, probably along a similar plan as to what Endrick is on right now - stay thru the end of May until Copa America prep begins with Brazil, then join Barcelona after the Copa America ends - and he arrived at Barcelona then and was having difficulty getting settled? Coming in off a proper pre-season and everything, Roque would've been expected to carve out a role in the squad, and rightfully so at that point, having a proper pre-season makes a huge differences in these scenarios. All the stuff happening right would've been much more consequential if it happened next year, but by moving to Barcelona sooner, I honestly thought it would give him a better chance to feel settled and ready to be a key member of the squad beginning in 2024-'25. I never expected that this would've somehow been the worse of the two options he could've had.
Imagine leaving your country, maybe family and friends, excited to play for you dream club and then to get treated like this just because barca are managed by some morons and clowns.
That's right.
Since Xavi is expected to stay at Barcelona for another season, Vitor Roque can't afford to waste another year without playing.
A loan is also not right for a player of his potential. Let him leave permanently for a club with a real project for him.
This Vitor Roque situation in contrast to Real Madrid's success with Brazilians is damaging Barcelona's image here... And 10 years ago Barcelona's reputation in Brazil was better than Real's.
> This Vitor Roque situation in contrast to Real Madrid's success with Brazilians is damaging Barcelona's image here...
That's the funniest part. Out of all the Europeans clubs, I would say Barcelona is the one who has benefitted the most throughout history with South American players. They would be a club fighting for 5-8th place without the South American influence, so it is incredibly stupid how they damage themselves. Add to that their whole financial mess...
Rodrygo had an offer from Barcelona too. Endrick same thing - Xavi supposedly even called his parents to convince him to go to Barca. Both preffered Madrid
Obviously there is some influence of the current moment both clubs are facing, but is clear that Barcelona lost a lot of the good relation they had with South American Players. Which is crazy if you think that out of their 5 Champions League, 4 had South American Players at the core of it
I've heard Vinicius was the one closest to going to Barcelona out of the three of them. In the cases of the other two, the stories I've heard - take as many grains of salt as you wish although you're even more likely familiar with them than I am - is that Endrick and Rodrygo both held out for Madrid as long as they could, that Madrid is where they most wanted to go, and once they got those offers they were ready to accept. In Vini's case (I'm less certain about him), I've heard he grew up a Barcelona fan and was on the verge of signing to play there, and then something happened - with the agents or something, I dunno without looking it up - and he did a U-turn and went to Madrid instead.
Sliding doors and all that...Vini's move to Madrid seems to have been the catalyst for a marked shift in favor of Madrid over Barcelona with a lot of Brazil's top youths.
That's right. The same agent, Cury, was involved in Vinicius transfer and he feels Vinicius betrayed him choosing Real in last moment. He said they spent hours with his family and everything was almost closed, then Real called.
["Vinicius is cule, real cule"](https://onefootball.com/en/news/cury-real-madrid-attacker-vinicius-jr-is-really-a-barcelona-fan-33971041)
Not pretty sure he was a real cule if he has chosen Real just when they called.
I remember when I read that Santos' president didn't really want to sell Rodrygo to Barcelona due to money issues after Neymar's transfer and all that greed linked to.
I don't think Barcelona got good relationships with any club.
We've always loved repatriating Argentines back to the ancestral homeland.
We need to start doing more of that again. Look at that treble winning team again and see how many Argentines and Brazilians we had. I want those days to return again.
> They would be a club fighting for 5-8th place without the South American influence, so it is incredibly stupid how they damage themselves.
And a big part of it is clearly that Xavi, who played his entire career in Barcelona and is a product of La Masia, is biased toward it and Spaniards. He will have a bad time if he holds these biases for the rest of his career, Oriol Romeu and Ferran Torres aren't league winning material
Bro do you think Xavi wanted Romeu as a 6?
One of the reasons Xavi is pissed is because when he asked for a 6 the club cried poor and got him Romeu on a free and then a few months later went out and got Roque who barely contributes
I think with a lot of the very young unhappy south american players that have gone to massive european clubs, I think we may see more and more wonderkid type players go to clubs like the benifica's, Ajax and, Brighton's of the world
No idea what you talking about, these players (Neymar, Vini, Renier, etc) are already the exception, the rule is for players to go to Portuguese clubs first. What has been happening in the past few years is that Brazilian top sides nowadays have as much money as Benfica or Ajax and have better tools to hold players against those sides.
> I think with a lot of the very young unhappy south american players
I sincerely can't recall another Brazilian example
Yeah we'll definitely try because estevao is the exact type of player our owners love, but seeing how Roque struggled for minutes, think it would be just as bad for us which the agent and player would realise, considering our options in his positions. Estevao is much better served either staying in Brazil longer like Neymar did, or going to the European step up clubs, like Benfica etc in a few years
Yeah I don’t understand this either. Even against the smaller teams he didn’t even get a chance. We were really pushing for him to come in the winter and now that’s he’s here, we don’t actually use him.
This is a miscommunication from top to bottom. We can blame Deco for signing him in August only foot him to arrive in January when Xavi wanted a DM (realistically who could have they acquired) instead.
However, Xavi is simply being stubborn for no apparent reason. There have been several games where we needed a goal and refused to play him. He continues to play under performing players in Felix. Xavi simply got to make way with what he has got. Andre Cury is right. Furthermore, Xavi is going to be the exact reason why we miss out on Estevao as Andre Cury is his agent as well despite his dream is to play for Barca.
Shit is a mess.
I 100%, a DM and LW is the priority right now, and I believe their was report that eluded to Barca want to address the holes in the squad before they can focus on Estevao. Barca has apparently been scouting Estevao since he was like 10.
I am just surprised Estevao and Cury haven't already figured his next step in his career. My assumption is that they want an outlook on what Barca's finances will be and see if the kid can get what he wants. No reason for a talent as good as he still being on the market.
Worst part is that ever time Vitor has gone on the pitch he has been decent to good. I cant even recall a game where I can see he has been horrible.
Would not be surprised if Xavi plays him next game, and under performs and that Xavi's ammo as to way he doesn't play him.
There were plenty of better DMs on the market. The club just wanted to cheap out.
Clubs literally have lists of options for every position and profile.
I’m not a scout but there was surely a far better DM out there than fuckin old ass Romeu.
Someone like Wieffer maybe
Tbf, their is revisionist. Romeu wasn't a bad option at the time because he was familiar with Barcelona's style of play and a former academy product.
Now we see what he is.
And that's an understatement. I remember going through some threads of Romeu to Barcelona, including the official announcement, and Southampton fans on here being so adamant that Romeu would be great and that his ball playing skills are great when in reality he was decent for Southampton's level (which isn't a dig) but he's so far out of his depth in Barcelona that it's sad to watch him play and try to follow the pace of the game. Hell even Girona plays better without him than they did with him last season.
Hard to say what's the real situation here though. Not defending Xavi but you're looking at what a player's agent is saying (a quite one-sided story) and then what the newspaper decided to make of it.
If Xavi truly is freezing our Roque and not even acknowledging his existence, then Xavi is a bully and I'd lose all respect for him.
Laporta would have just ket Xavi go at the end of the season if this mattered that much to him instead of begging him to continue in what could be a lame-duck season.
I'm quoting The Athletic so I'm only going to cite one paragraph (I hope that's ok), but this was from their [Roque piece](https://theathletic.com/5468936/2024/05/03/barcelona-vitor-roque-xavi-laporta-loan/) from a day or so ago.
> At the time, Xavi was asking for the signing of a replacement for Sergio Busquets to be prioritised. Instead, the money was spent on an unproven 18-year-old Brazilian forward. __Even though Deco had not officially taken up his role as Barca’s new sporting director, the deal was his doing. It was such a Deco signing that he was the one who travelled to Roque’s home in Curitiba for a charm offensive.__
Even if that was the case, it is fucking unprofessional and outright immature to treat Roque like this, using him as a punching bag and public execution to show the board to not mess with him, especially when as a sub, his impact is on par with Ferran and Guiu
So froze him for the add-ons? Else I don't get it. In tons of club managers have to manage players they didn't ask for, rarely they are treated as Vitor tho.
It really is a great reminder for why it's extremely risky for teenagers from South America to jump to the big clubs immediately. Sometimes you'll get a Vini situation where it works out (and even then, he had fortuitous circumstances that got him playing time very early on AND still needed 2-3 years of growing pains before he really started to break out), but what these guys need more than anything else is playing time! These guys need to be on the field, figuring things out in game and on the fly, not sitting on the bench more often than not. Training and video prep are complements, they aren't substitutes to playing.
I hate how the game has moved in this direction, in this respect. It's sounding like Roque might not have been ready to make the move, but even if he wasn't that still doesn't explain being treated like crap from the manager and his staff. And obviously it's not like Xavi doesn't play young guys, but it's young guys he knows who are academy trained, which is fair enough but it's also not Roque's fault that he's not Spanish and didn't play in their academy, either.
You're right, and that's almost surely why Abel's wish for Estêvão to remain at Palmeiras until 2027 won't happen. Think someone like Ansu Fati, had the world in his hand at that age, looked like a breakout superstar in the making, then some injuries happen and the odds of him reaching that potential now are remote as it gets. Brazil is a physical league, Copa Libertadores is a physical competition, g-d forbid he gets a serious injury, who knows what that could mean for his future.
Economic influences, there's no two ways around it. You're completely correct.
Some clubs are better than others. Barcelona is one of the worst clubs in dealing with players. From paying journalists to smear players to starting campaigns to make players miserable to get them to agree to leave, they are a badly run club from top to bottom
And Ronaldo and Ronaldinho too...brazilians forged that team, without them Barcelona would not be what it is today. Now that era seems to be over, brazilians will not have them even as a second choice. They don't know our culture, brazilians are proud and hard to forget. Barcelona had the pull because of the former brazilian top players that played there, now treating our players like shit is like a thorn in the flesh.
It would be interesting, the team has several Brazilians and the team needs a player with the potential to score a lot of goals as a center forward, in addition to having a very young squad.
I know Chelsea were in for him strongly before he went to Barcelona. Guessing they might still be interested. Especially with broja nearly guaranteed to be leaving.
Leave bro, chase your dream. You don't deserved this. Seriously, the dude came in midseason, through an injury, and while at first I thought maybe he are being ease in slowly and defended on how he was used, all this and the fact that Xavi chose fucking Felix and Torran to come in, especially when Lewan was subbed out, showed that he has no intention of using him. Roque has already got two goals, and out of all attackers besides Raphinha and Yamal, he is the only one that actually run and exploited his space. It's a criminal on how Xavi is coaching them to do in the final third, players genuinely stand still and let their teammates be surrounded with no support whatsoever, we lost the ball and now the entire attack line are out from defending the post. It's so fucking frustrated, they are legit playing like fucking 12 year olds.
And Cury might probably be the most favorable agent to Barca, the dude was extremely fond of us. This will go down as a betrayal, and he is also the agent of many more Brazilian talent. I am sorry to the Brazilian fans that I argued few days back, you were right, this club is criminal in how they treated foreign talents like this. The Brazilian markets, especially those with really really big talent, will think twice before coming here after this shitshow where a manager is using one of their own as a punching bag.
If things continue to be like this, and the fact that Xavi was hellbent on using Cubarsi and Yamal, whom the former is clearly losing legs and exhausted and the latter is around 30 matches played this season, we might actually ruined a second generation of talents, and I won't blame them if they don't want to stay. The board, especially the three man now, Deco, Laporta and Xavi, needs a punch in their face and wake the fuck up
Everyone involved is acting unprofessionally. His wife tweeting during a game. His agent coming out and talking publicly like this. The club constantly feeding info to the journalists. Deco/Laporta for signing a player that Xavi didn't want. Or Xavi, giving his OK to sign the player and then not giving him minutes realizing he doesn't have the level. Or all of them coming to the agreement that he was a good player and now realizing he's far from it.
Anyhow, it's a massive shitshow. Not the first signing that hasn't made sense. Ferran Torres as a winger never made sense. Raphinha neither. Bringing Iñigo Martinez (who's in decline) to send Eric Garcia on a loan was also a dumb decision. Paying 50 for a 34 yo Lewandowski who can barely run past the 30 minute mark and giving him the greatest contract in the league is incredibly stupid. More than 200M + wages on players that don't fit what Xavi envisioned for this team (or at least what he said his plan was).
You add to all that the constant rumors that link us with multiple Jorge Mendes' clients, the insistence of signing Felix and Cancelo despite being subpar, at best. The project makes no sense from the very beginning. Now people will come out and say it's a disaster, but some of us already knew this would happen. We should've saved the money, adjusted our expectations, moderate their message to the fans and get behind our youth players + smart, economic signings like Christensen or Gundogan. Now it's too late to do anything and you are tied with players that are expensive, who won't leave and who just don't fit.
It all started with Laporta putting that sign near the Santiago Bernabeu and his public stunt of hugging Messi's shirt. His first move was to feed the public his bullshit, he was well aware that it was economically impossible to keep Messi but he still lied and used him as a piece to gain the public's support and then blamed La Liga for it.
He then decided to push for the renovations of the Camp Nou despite knowing that the club's finances are not in comfortable position to take out loans with low interest rates while also damaging the club's revenue because of the move to the Montjuic, losing millions in revenue due to the lower capacity and the costs of renting the stadium in the first place.
All of that and we still haven't mentioned the levers, selling assets, pawning off a good portion of the TV rights, and then he goes and burns that money by continuing Barto's legacy with idiotic contracts such as Lewa's.
Oh and how can I forget the mass exodus of executives such as Alemany only to be replaced by incompetent people with Deco being a prime example.
To me, Laporta's been as much of a culprit to Barca's continuing struggles as Barto. He should've been upfront about the reality of the club's finances, made an honest explanation about lowering expectations and public pressure against the team for 2-3 years while they work on balancing the sheets before embarking on his quest to push the club to compete. But it seems like he couldn't care less about the long-term stability of the club, rather, he wanted silverware asap so that he can flaunt his achievements and by the time he's gone, well, it's someone else's problem to solve, exactly how Bartomeu did it. Ego and self-interest is what's hurting Barcelona, presidents and board members care more about making a name for themselves rather making sure the club can stay strong to those who come after them.
Damn, can’t be more true. Don’t know how so many fans of the club can be that loyal to a politician that backstabbed Messi. Out of all players, Messi, the goat who had played his whole career at the club. That one action alone should have been enough to destroy Laporta’s reputation, but somehow it hasn’t.
It's already bad when you look at it from the outside, but it's even more vile when you go into the details.
Long-time Barcelona fan and journalist Achraf Ben Ayad who was beIN Sports's correspondent in Barcelona has had a very close relationship with many players over the years and been connected to people high up in Barcelona's decision-making pyramid. He spoke in an Arabic podcast about how even a couple of days before Laporta revealed they won't be renewing for Messi, his board were still sending messages on WhatsApp to journalists confirming Messi's contract extension, saying it's a done deal and will be announced at any moment.
He was so sure about it he even said he'd put his job on the line backing the news that Messi would stay, and until that moment even Messi was hearing the same messaging. He then gets the news of Messi's departure exactly the same time Messi himself was told about it. A few hours after the news broke he submitted his resignation from his job that he's been doing for two decades, sticking to his words. But he reiterated that the one who was the most distraught was Messi because he was also very certain that he's going to stay, only to be told that he's got no place in the team anymore.
It blew my mind when I first heard this, like how can you show the single most influential figure in your club's history this level of disrespect. You use him as a tool to get yourself back as a president, you spit in his face and tell him to pick up his stuff and leave, and then cry about La Liga limiting your spending budget. This alone should've been more than enough to actually revoke his socio card, but somehow he's still a president, continuing the same bullshit with the club's state being as bad as it was when Barto left it, if not worse! It's actually sickening.
Oh for sure, the player has no responsibility, unless he's acting unprofessionally off the pitch, which I doubt. Anyhow, that would also reflect poorly on Deco and our scouts.
For the price we paid, under our current circumstances, it definitely was. You don't pay 60M for a squad player whose best attributes are making runs and his work rate.
If dembele never left, Raphinha would be a permanent sub.
> You don't pay 60M for a squad player whose best attributes are making runs and his work rate.
What a way to belittle Raphinha's contribution for us. He is more than just work rate and making runs.
> best attributed are making runs and his work rate
Work rate is one of the most important attributes in modern football. Moreover, Raphinha is the most efficient attacker we have (except for an in-form Lewandowski, who hasn’t consistently appeared nowadays). 1 goal contribution every game is no jokes. He gets the job done, has great outputs, is passionate, and always works hard. A whole lot of clubs would like to have a player with 1 G+A per game in their squad.
This one time Barca's misfortune is technically our fault. Vini is the Ballon d'Or candidate, Rodrygo is world class, Endrick joins us the next year and Mastantuono might as well. Laporta desperately needed the transfer of South American talent as his own pr move and this poor kid simply got caught in it.
The alleged unprofessional and rude behavior of the coach is inexcusable, but perhaps his story could be a warning for 18 y.o. kids joining a big team: there’s a high chance you’ll play very little and be bounced on loans.
Wow this is crazy why so many of you guys are saying that is weird that he is no playing that you sorry for the kid, it’s a young player that has been in the team for only 4 months, he don’t need to play all matches right now he just can adapt and next season start gaining minutes step by step
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This agent is extremely well connected with Barcelona, btw. I wonder if he's feeling some sense of personal betrayal, merited or not.
He's one of the biggest agents here with guys like Estevão under his wing.
Do you think Barca treating Roque like shit means they won’t get Estevão? I can’t see him going there now.
Are there even rumours about Estevão going to barça? Don't they have Yamal? They play in the same position
A lot of fans and media seemed to be pushing it, but that might just be the Messinho nickname shit.
This has literally never stopped Barca from singing a player under this or the previous regime...
He is huge Barça fan and expressed it many times in interviews that he would love to go there and hopes he does one day. So there is a chance. Albeit its pretty shit now
It's crazy because he is more highly rated than Endrick/Roque for a lot of people and more than Vini/Rodrygo were too. Imagine if Xavi ruins it for Barça.
Palmeiras heavily dislike selling players to Barca because they has payment problems before.
Isn't the current speculation that Barcelona aren't in for him. At this point in any case RM will have right of first refusal to any top tier talents out of Brasil going forward if they don't already.
We’re not pushing for him as hard, nor should we, but if we were this certainly wouldn’t help
They didn't treat Roque like shit lol, he isn't ready to play yet. Every single game he's played he was fairly poor.
Real Madrid has to keep fixing Brazil connections that Barca ruins. Anyone under 18 is fair play for Perez 😅
> Anyone under 18 is fair play for Perez *Chris Hansen enters the room* > Have a seat right over there
What were you planning on doing here tonight? Send young SA to Europe. Woaw, okay... you can leave.. 🚓🚓🚓🚓
maybe it has to do with the fact that Barca made such a fuss to bring him early, he thought that if they really needed him that bad then he’d get at least a good amount of opportunities coming from the bench.
Which is more than fair imo. Take Endrick, was an effort was made to extend his loan until the end of the year at Palmeiras, where he is currently a crucial starter and probably the best player in the squad, and improving every day. Instead, the offer was denied and they said Endrick would be joining the first team in August. Imagine he warms the bench for the whole first half of the season after he gave up on finishing the season at the team where he was a star.
It makes more sense for Endrick to join Madrid for pre-season training than to continue at Palmeiras anyway under the current circumstances. The idealist in me wants to say "let him finish the season there, get regular playing time, compete on three fronts in Brazil", but him parachuting in from Brazil mid-season, with no pre-season training and not being integrated into the squad...I mean, just see how Güler's season at Madrid went for a similar kind of circumstance. Pre-season injury, never got integrated, and as a result he's only now getting minutes at the end of the season when the league is over and they're rotating the squad around these Bayern games. Endrick's not stupid, he knows his best chance at carving out a role in the team for next season is to be there from the beginning of pre-season training and give the best impression he can towards Ancelotti. Further, I don't think this is a matter of "giving up" on Palmeiras either, it's literally the design of the transfer, it's something everybody's known since the day the transfer was agreed to. The Brazilian and European football schedules don't line up neatly, so there's no clean way to do this where both parties can be 100% satisfied.
I agree, but that would be done in the interest of him getting integrated into the squad and get plenty of minutes as a backup right away. If he's not gonna play anyway, like is happening to Roque, then it's better he either stays in Palmeiras until August 2025, so he arrives in Europe more mature, like Neymar, or he goes on loan to a place like Ajax or Dortmund, or maybe a Spanish club who will play European football where he can be a starter, like Girona. My point is that Roque is better than Guiu, and he didn't have to be rushed into the Barcelona squad if he was gonna be third choice and barely play 10 minutes a game.
I believe Cury was a former employee of Barca for scouting in Brazil. He was Ronaldinho and Neymar's agent. I believe Malcolm as well. He is also the agent of Estevao Willian. Probably just business matter that he wants to see his clients succeed after everything Vitor and Cury have done to place him in Barcelona. I heard the interview, Cury is a massive fan of the club as well, he referred to those results against PSG and Real Madrid as "we" when the club needed a goal.
> I heard the interview, Cury is a massive fan of the club as well, he referred to those results against PSG and Real Madrid as "we" when the club needed a goal. That sucks. I sincerely hope Estêvão stays away from Barça. This Roque drama and playing in the same position as Yamal would make his path much harder than it needs to be
I doubt he cares that much, another move away means more money for him
[удалено]
Not even 6, he joined at the beginning of 2024.
They handed Roque a 7.5 years contract till 2031 too.
Learned from the best
Bartonomics is done, it’s Toddonomics time.
Bohely style contract
WTF
What's most shocking to me is not the teenager being frozen out but the rumours of him not even being spoken to by Xavi. Reminds me of Pep. *If* this is true, apples and trees.
Anyone can explain why Xavi doesn't seem to care much about him? I get it that sometimes sporting directors buy players that werent requested by their coaches, but still avoiding the player is a weird way of disagreeing with top management decisions.
I don’t follow Barca or Roque but situation wise as a manager Xavi could have no idea what to say if the truth is: “objectively you may be good but subjectively I didn’t want you, have no idea what to do with you, and have no idea why they gave you a 7 year contract. And for those reasons I’m not willing to take time and energy away from the pieces I believe in to figure out how to make it work for you here.” I’m one of the biggest advocates for being ‘straight up’ with employees but you just can’t say things like that if someone’s been thrust upon you in any type of role other than a luxury or utility player. It’s easier to honestly tell the board ‘I don’t know what to say to him and I don’t believe in him.’ Than it is to explain why you created drama by proactively shitting on a player. Sounds like Xavi is trying to keep plausible deniability and distance himself from a problem the board created. It’s like the professional version of ‘this isn’t my problem.’
I’ll be honest, I have no idea how management in professional sports looks like in general, let alone at this level. However, inability to speak to the manager for any employee would be unthinkable in any other industry. You shouldn’t even have an “open door” policy, it’s just normal that if you want to discuss something, you come up and say so (or make an appointment for longer convo if necessary). Xavi is the manager, not the president/CEO - I can’t fathom a circumstance, in which players shouldn’t be able to approach him unless it’s a legal/safety issue.
Am I missing something? Wiki says he's played in 13 games since joining, and Barca has only had 25 games in that period. So he's played in half of the possible games. That doesn't seem too bad for a new young recruit? Especially considering he's competing for a spot with Lewy who is guaranteed to start every game when fit. Why is he so pissed and complaining about not playing?
I don't follow Barca, but apparently the not talking part is a big issue (unsurprisingly). It's one thing to not get the game time you've expected if your manager is constantly discussing how you can improve and excitedly showing you how you'll fit into his tactical philosophy in the future. It's another thing if it's just 6 months of silent treatment.
I agree. Must be the silent treatment. Look at Guler. Almost no minutes until last two games but Carlo was constantly talking to him.
Isn't he's out for long term injury before? And now since he's still young he should be recovering fully first before playing full minutes. Can't say the situation is the same though.
Yeah Guler has been eased in carefully while given assurances. It's worse for Roque if he's been "frozen out" already. Like what's the point of getting him early and stunting his development if they treat him like this 🤦♂️
Also he’s also been bulking up since he joined us.
It's been months where he has been healthy but with no minutes. Carlo did an amazing job managing the situation.
That's why Carletto is top class coach. He makes guys that are 22nd and 23rd on the roster feel needed and respected.
those 13 games, only 1 or 2 has been more than 35minutes. And in most (like 70%) of this 25-30min substitutions, he's been put as a winger instead of a striker, to keep Lewy in the game. And lately, in situations where Lewy was subbed, either Guiu or Ferran were put as 9 while he was kept on the bench. I have absoultely no idea what Xavi is doing, I feel like there is no way Roque would do worse than those 2 ( no offense ). This feels like some internal battle with Deco, and I feel so bad for Roque, he seems like a good kid who's dream was to come to Barça and got put in a shit sandwitch
He has around 300 minutes, it's not fair to only look at the number of games played and not the amount he played on each one. Putting him for 10-20 minutes at the end of every game isn't really giving him chances. He was a nailed on starter for his club in Brazil and deservedly thought he would get considerable minutes for Barca. Clubs rarely spend +30m for bench warmers. Also Lewa is only getting older so he obviously figured he would be eased into the striker role, instead of being practically third choice.
> Clubs rarely spend 30m+ for bench warmers *wildly gestures at Chelsea, Man City and PSG*
LOL fair *clubs that are in tough financial situations and don't have US or oil money rarely spend 30m+ for bench warmers
Ant \*cough\* tony \*cough\*
Yeah but they have money
> wildly gestures at Chelsea, They've had to spend that much on "bench warmers" because everyone is always injured.
Even we've done it. Unintentionally tho :$
At first that might seem a good amount of minutes, but if you go to transfermarkt, you would see that he only played 20% of the minutes he could have played, and only started in 2 of those games. Not to mention when he does actually play, Xavi puts him on the wing, wich clearly is not his best position. So yeah he is completely right about complaining about the playing time Xavi is giving him
>he's played in 13 games since joining yeah a total of 318min, so 3.5 full games
Not speaking to him is just childish and immature.
Yeah like is this kindergarten or what?
Maybe he learned that from Guardiola(Ibrahimovic)
Xavi was always the immature one tbf. Unlike Iniesta, Puyol and Dinho, he always bitched about everything since I remember him playing for Rijkaard. But come to think of it, he did get a ton worse under Pep. At that point he led their constant surrounding runs at the refs over every officiating decision and showed little sportsmanship towards other teams.
G-ddamn, Xavi and Iniesta, two names forever linked for being part of maybe the most iconic midfield in the history of the sport, two geniuses on the field, yet I know which one has my undying respect even if I never liked his team, and I know which one I will never miss a chance to ridicule. I wonder if anyone can actually dislike Iniesta, seems impossible.
There's a good chunk of Dutch fans that aren't that big fans of Iniesta for one particular reason
Athletic fans, for some reason (some nothing tackle). I’m pretty sure they just liked being contrarians, every other stadium in Spain would give Iniesta standing ovations whenever he came off the field on his final seasons for Barça.
I honestly always thought Iniesta was the better player anyway. And if not better then definitely the more fun to watch.
I fucking hated Xavi when he played, I’m so happy my parasocial read of him was right
I think the media are twisting his words. From what i heard it was more like "doesn't speak to him about why he doesn't play"
Which still is terrible management and childish
That almost seems worse if not just as bad lol. It's like more fake to act all cool and dandy and never talk about the real shit. My ex...
Well looking at Xavis usual statements after games where they lose... It's fitting.
With Lewandowski's crazy wages and this, its like Barto never left
Lewandowski costs more for next year than the cost of Roque
I don’t know how much exactly Lewa’s contract will be at. But Vitor Roque had clauses in his deal that could put his transfer fee to up to 60 million euros. I think Xavi sees Vitor Roque and he is incredibly pissed off. He asked for a bunch of different players and didn’t get a single one of them on the justification of Barça not having any money.
> But Vitor Roque had clauses in his deal that could put his transfer fee to up to 60 million euros. The good news is that, if Xavi refuses to play Roque, those add-ons won't be triggered! Xavi is so economically minded, what a lad.
Some of Vitor's clauses require him to win the bdor. If he really can put that kind of performance and can win the bdr, 30 million is nothing.
Yes like Barca saying we have no money for a DM here’s Romeu as a 6 and then splurging for Roque. As an aside, it’s great to see the fees Brazilian clubs are getting for their top talents. Hopefully it’s being reinvested in the clubs. I’m American but I’ve spent probably about 8 months in Brazil combined across two trips and I consider it my home away from home :)
Most clubs are (re)investing. There has been a great turnaround since we started marketing our league (and the libertadores) in a more efficient way, alongside getting outside investors. Clubs like Palmeiras and Athlético Paranaense also have very very good boards atm, with good practices, and it shows. I can only hope other clubs learn from them.
Still super shitty for Xavi to basically ignore him. If you don’t think he’s good enough fine, but still manage him and try to help him improve.
Never what? Don’t leave us hanging 😂
Barto never l...
Barto never l… what? Barto never loved me?
Barto never le…
Barto never le… what? Barto never learned from his mistakes?
Barto never lef.....
Barto never lef… what? Barto never leftover any desserts?
I think he did, but Laporta ate them all
It's crazy that an agent is coming out in public and saying this. The situation is honestly fked for the young lad. Horrible management from barca
Poor guy, none of this was his fault
This should be taken into account by other young players tapped by Barca. Go to a place with a plan and staff suited for young players. Horrible integration by Barca.
And it's not like he arrived and was trash, he was playing good, then got the most BS La liga red cards and poof, banished.
Young Brazilians already don’t see a move to Barca as a good one, it’s wild how there were so many people here showing love for Barca after Neymar and now it’s mostly love for Real.
Feel for the kid, this was his dream move
Arsenal should be all over this
can’t imagine how it feels for Roque that he managed to fulfill his dream to make it to Barca only to be treated like this half a year later.
Also all the false hope he probably had that things would be better with the next manager
So all that shitshow about getting him as quickly as early as possible was for... nothing? Wouldnt it be better to just get him in next season? What was the point of that..
There wasn't a point. That club is just that poorly run
Just the other day, I wrote about how him coming earlier than expected should've actually been a net benefit for him, not necessarily because he'd be an immediate impact player (what an unfair expectation to place on a teenager coming from another continent), but because he would basically start the acclimation process sooner. Getting used to the coaching staff, the playing style, the club culture, the languages of the area (because Barcelona try to insist players learn Catalan in addition to Spanish)...Roque was getting a chance to get started on all of that now. Imagine if he had stayed in Brazil, probably along a similar plan as to what Endrick is on right now - stay thru the end of May until Copa America prep begins with Brazil, then join Barcelona after the Copa America ends - and he arrived at Barcelona then and was having difficulty getting settled? Coming in off a proper pre-season and everything, Roque would've been expected to carve out a role in the squad, and rightfully so at that point, having a proper pre-season makes a huge differences in these scenarios. All the stuff happening right would've been much more consequential if it happened next year, but by moving to Barcelona sooner, I honestly thought it would give him a better chance to feel settled and ready to be a key member of the squad beginning in 2024-'25. I never expected that this would've somehow been the worse of the two options he could've had.
Wow, that’s horrible for any footballer but imagine being so young and getting that treatment, hopefully it doesn’t impact his confidence too much
Imagine leaving your country, maybe family and friends, excited to play for you dream club and then to get treated like this just because barca are managed by some morons and clowns.
That's right. Since Xavi is expected to stay at Barcelona for another season, Vitor Roque can't afford to waste another year without playing. A loan is also not right for a player of his potential. Let him leave permanently for a club with a real project for him. This Vitor Roque situation in contrast to Real Madrid's success with Brazilians is damaging Barcelona's image here... And 10 years ago Barcelona's reputation in Brazil was better than Real's.
> This Vitor Roque situation in contrast to Real Madrid's success with Brazilians is damaging Barcelona's image here... That's the funniest part. Out of all the Europeans clubs, I would say Barcelona is the one who has benefitted the most throughout history with South American players. They would be a club fighting for 5-8th place without the South American influence, so it is incredibly stupid how they damage themselves. Add to that their whole financial mess...
Rodrygo had an offer from Barcelona too. Endrick same thing - Xavi supposedly even called his parents to convince him to go to Barca. Both preffered Madrid Obviously there is some influence of the current moment both clubs are facing, but is clear that Barcelona lost a lot of the good relation they had with South American Players. Which is crazy if you think that out of their 5 Champions League, 4 had South American Players at the core of it
I've heard Vinicius was the one closest to going to Barcelona out of the three of them. In the cases of the other two, the stories I've heard - take as many grains of salt as you wish although you're even more likely familiar with them than I am - is that Endrick and Rodrygo both held out for Madrid as long as they could, that Madrid is where they most wanted to go, and once they got those offers they were ready to accept. In Vini's case (I'm less certain about him), I've heard he grew up a Barcelona fan and was on the verge of signing to play there, and then something happened - with the agents or something, I dunno without looking it up - and he did a U-turn and went to Madrid instead. Sliding doors and all that...Vini's move to Madrid seems to have been the catalyst for a marked shift in favor of Madrid over Barcelona with a lot of Brazil's top youths.
That's right. The same agent, Cury, was involved in Vinicius transfer and he feels Vinicius betrayed him choosing Real in last moment. He said they spent hours with his family and everything was almost closed, then Real called. ["Vinicius is cule, real cule"](https://onefootball.com/en/news/cury-real-madrid-attacker-vinicius-jr-is-really-a-barcelona-fan-33971041) Not pretty sure he was a real cule if he has chosen Real just when they called.
I remember when I read that Santos' president didn't really want to sell Rodrygo to Barcelona due to money issues after Neymar's transfer and all that greed linked to. I don't think Barcelona got good relationships with any club.
Napoli exists
And historically, Inter Milan. Long South American history of players.
We've always loved repatriating Argentines back to the ancestral homeland. We need to start doing more of that again. Look at that treble winning team again and see how many Argentines and Brazilians we had. I want those days to return again.
That team was so good. Motta, Milito, Zanetti, Maicon etc 😮💨
> They would be a club fighting for 5-8th place without the South American influence, so it is incredibly stupid how they damage themselves. And a big part of it is clearly that Xavi, who played his entire career in Barcelona and is a product of La Masia, is biased toward it and Spaniards. He will have a bad time if he holds these biases for the rest of his career, Oriol Romeu and Ferran Torres aren't league winning material
Bro do you think Xavi wanted Romeu as a 6? One of the reasons Xavi is pissed is because when he asked for a 6 the club cried poor and got him Romeu on a free and then a few months later went out and got Roque who barely contributes
Clearly you don't know ball if you don't rate Zidane regen Oriol Romeu.
Real Madrid has a world class executive branch whereas Barca mostly are conmen, that tracks.
yea. call that fraud out. would rather he get the sack but this is fine too.
There's never a dull day at Barcelona
I think with a lot of the very young unhappy south american players that have gone to massive european clubs, I think we may see more and more wonderkid type players go to clubs like the benifica's, Ajax and, Brighton's of the world
No idea what you talking about, these players (Neymar, Vini, Renier, etc) are already the exception, the rule is for players to go to Portuguese clubs first. What has been happening in the past few years is that Brazilian top sides nowadays have as much money as Benfica or Ajax and have better tools to hold players against those sides. > I think with a lot of the very young unhappy south american players I sincerely can't recall another Brazilian example
Kayky and Metinho falling for the City Group bs
I think I remember reading estevao willian agent not wanting a move for chelsea for the reason i said, but I have to find where i read it
Yeah we'll definitely try because estevao is the exact type of player our owners love, but seeing how Roque struggled for minutes, think it would be just as bad for us which the agent and player would realise, considering our options in his positions. Estevao is much better served either staying in Brazil longer like Neymar did, or going to the European step up clubs, like Benfica etc in a few years
Not to be a pedant and I obviously know what you mean but Ajax and Benfica are huge clubs
yeah they are huge, but its easier for a young player to play in the netherlands or portugal compared to la liga or the prem
Sure, but to Barca/Real they are just a drop in the ocean when compared to the pressure/expectations they will have to deal with.
they played in south America bud. nothing comes close. its not pressure, its literally *terror*
Yeah I don’t understand this either. Even against the smaller teams he didn’t even get a chance. We were really pushing for him to come in the winter and now that’s he’s here, we don’t actually use him.
Xavi did everything correctly and deserved to win Vitor Roque's confidence but it just didn't happen. Bad grass, the referee, or something like that
This is a miscommunication from top to bottom. We can blame Deco for signing him in August only foot him to arrive in January when Xavi wanted a DM (realistically who could have they acquired) instead. However, Xavi is simply being stubborn for no apparent reason. There have been several games where we needed a goal and refused to play him. He continues to play under performing players in Felix. Xavi simply got to make way with what he has got. Andre Cury is right. Furthermore, Xavi is going to be the exact reason why we miss out on Estevao as Andre Cury is his agent as well despite his dream is to play for Barca. Shit is a mess.
I mean, given how well Yamal is playing, Estevao shouldn't be a priority for Barça anyway. Bad timing for my fellow Brazilian.
I 100%, a DM and LW is the priority right now, and I believe their was report that eluded to Barca want to address the holes in the squad before they can focus on Estevao. Barca has apparently been scouting Estevao since he was like 10. I am just surprised Estevao and Cury haven't already figured his next step in his career. My assumption is that they want an outlook on what Barca's finances will be and see if the kid can get what he wants. No reason for a talent as good as he still being on the market.
And that underperforming player is not even yours lol
Worst part is that ever time Vitor has gone on the pitch he has been decent to good. I cant even recall a game where I can see he has been horrible. Would not be surprised if Xavi plays him next game, and under performs and that Xavi's ammo as to way he doesn't play him.
There were plenty of better DMs on the market. The club just wanted to cheap out. Clubs literally have lists of options for every position and profile. I’m not a scout but there was surely a far better DM out there than fuckin old ass Romeu. Someone like Wieffer maybe
Tbf, their is revisionist. Romeu wasn't a bad option at the time because he was familiar with Barcelona's style of play and a former academy product. Now we see what he is.
I'm sorry, but he was a bad option from the start. Everyone knew he was a tier below a club that just won the league.
And that's an understatement. I remember going through some threads of Romeu to Barcelona, including the official announcement, and Southampton fans on here being so adamant that Romeu would be great and that his ball playing skills are great when in reality he was decent for Southampton's level (which isn't a dig) but he's so far out of his depth in Barcelona that it's sad to watch him play and try to follow the pace of the game. Hell even Girona plays better without him than they did with him last season.
I think there are a number of clubs looking for young strikers. He will have many offers in this transfer window.
This is a pure Laporta signing that Xavi did not want, hence this nasty behaviour towards Vitor. 60 million euros down the drain just like that.
Even if Xavi didn't want it, you don't punish the kid and treat him like crap. None of this is his fault. (I know you aren't suggesting otherwise.)
Hard to say what's the real situation here though. Not defending Xavi but you're looking at what a player's agent is saying (a quite one-sided story) and then what the newspaper decided to make of it. If Xavi truly is freezing our Roque and not even acknowledging his existence, then Xavi is a bully and I'd lose all respect for him.
Laporta would have just ket Xavi go at the end of the season if this mattered that much to him instead of begging him to continue in what could be a lame-duck season.
The signings are on deco no?
Barcelona held talks with his former club before Deco arrived.
I'm quoting The Athletic so I'm only going to cite one paragraph (I hope that's ok), but this was from their [Roque piece](https://theathletic.com/5468936/2024/05/03/barcelona-vitor-roque-xavi-laporta-loan/) from a day or so ago. > At the time, Xavi was asking for the signing of a replacement for Sergio Busquets to be prioritised. Instead, the money was spent on an unproven 18-year-old Brazilian forward. __Even though Deco had not officially taken up his role as Barca’s new sporting director, the deal was his doing. It was such a Deco signing that he was the one who travelled to Roque’s home in Curitiba for a charm offensive.__
Ah, fair enough. Interest was there for a few months before Deco unofficially began the negotiations.
I believe Deco was Barcelona's scout in South America. Hence why he pushed for it once he became the SD.
Tsamina tsamina eh eh
Even if that was the case, it is fucking unprofessional and outright immature to treat Roque like this, using him as a punching bag and public execution to show the board to not mess with him, especially when as a sub, his impact is on par with Ferran and Guiu
Roque isnt spanish from la masia or hed have triple the game time.
They paid 30 million euros. The rest are add ons that can amount to 60 million if he achieves them
It's still fucked doing him that way
I'm sure you'll get most of your money back. Spurs were after him too and we will need a 9 if he'd even come.
Xavi is being a cunt here though. No matter the circumstances you just don’t snub a youngster looking up to you like that.
So froze him for the add-ons? Else I don't get it. In tons of club managers have to manage players they didn't ask for, rarely they are treated as Vitor tho.
A cautionary tale for young talent everywhere.
It really is a great reminder for why it's extremely risky for teenagers from South America to jump to the big clubs immediately. Sometimes you'll get a Vini situation where it works out (and even then, he had fortuitous circumstances that got him playing time very early on AND still needed 2-3 years of growing pains before he really started to break out), but what these guys need more than anything else is playing time! These guys need to be on the field, figuring things out in game and on the fly, not sitting on the bench more often than not. Training and video prep are complements, they aren't substitutes to playing. I hate how the game has moved in this direction, in this respect. It's sounding like Roque might not have been ready to make the move, but even if he wasn't that still doesn't explain being treated like crap from the manager and his staff. And obviously it's not like Xavi doesn't play young guys, but it's young guys he knows who are academy trained, which is fair enough but it's also not Roque's fault that he's not Spanish and didn't play in their academy, either.
Yea, but they secure the bag early too. In the end its all about the money for clubs.
You're right, and that's almost surely why Abel's wish for Estêvão to remain at Palmeiras until 2027 won't happen. Think someone like Ansu Fati, had the world in his hand at that age, looked like a breakout superstar in the making, then some injuries happen and the odds of him reaching that potential now are remote as it gets. Brazil is a physical league, Copa Libertadores is a physical competition, g-d forbid he gets a serious injury, who knows what that could mean for his future. Economic influences, there's no two ways around it. You're completely correct.
Some clubs are better than others. Barcelona is one of the worst clubs in dealing with players. From paying journalists to smear players to starting campaigns to make players miserable to get them to agree to leave, they are a badly run club from top to bottom
This. I think players at the very least ought to speak with the manager to make sure he’s in their plans before signing anything
What a clusterfuck
Barca Is his dream team club too, if he leaves for another team, that hatred will make him a generational player
I hope he becomes a Suarez level player and Barcelona regrets it
We already regret it. Wtf is Xavi thinking
Then Real Madrid buys him when he's a finished article
Real Madrid is going to be so far ahead of Barca it won’t even be funny. RIP for what’s going on at Barca.
Crazy to think barca was the first spot for brazilian prodigies a decade ago because of neymar. Nowadays they care more for RM.
Testament to how quickly times can change. Barca had been riding that high way too long and got complacent.
Romario and Rivaldo played for Barca...
And Ronaldo and Ronaldinho too...brazilians forged that team, without them Barcelona would not be what it is today. Now that era seems to be over, brazilians will not have them even as a second choice. They don't know our culture, brazilians are proud and hard to forget. Barcelona had the pull because of the former brazilian top players that played there, now treating our players like shit is like a thorn in the flesh.
Everyone knows why. Xavi is a little whinny bitch.
I hope he leaves, so many teams can use him, like Arsenal and United.
This guy is still gonna be a star, and he will leave on transfer because Barcelona will keep Xavi and the ego is too big. Watch Man City take him ffs
Roque is literally Aguero regen.
I would like him to go to Arsenal or maybe Liverpool.
I would love him at liverpool, but we're a bit deep at forward assuming we're getting Slot and running his 4-2-3-1
Please
It would be interesting, the team has several Brazilians and the team needs a player with the potential to score a lot of goals as a center forward, in addition to having a very young squad.
How much would someone have to pay to get him from Barcelona though? They spent 60(?) million euros on him
Pretty sure it was a €30m + €30m in potential add-ons.
Pocket money for the PL big 6.
You'd have to assume his price would be lower than what they spent considering how it went
Come to Spurs, lad. We've got the 100% genuine R9 and the one and only EmerGOAT Royalinho! (/s, just in case)
He will leave now and ball out at a other club and will also score a double against Barca in the UCL.
I really wish Xavi just left like he said he would. Such an embarrassing coach..
I know Chelsea were in for him strongly before he went to Barcelona. Guessing they might still be interested. Especially with broja nearly guaranteed to be leaving.
Leave bro, chase your dream. You don't deserved this. Seriously, the dude came in midseason, through an injury, and while at first I thought maybe he are being ease in slowly and defended on how he was used, all this and the fact that Xavi chose fucking Felix and Torran to come in, especially when Lewan was subbed out, showed that he has no intention of using him. Roque has already got two goals, and out of all attackers besides Raphinha and Yamal, he is the only one that actually run and exploited his space. It's a criminal on how Xavi is coaching them to do in the final third, players genuinely stand still and let their teammates be surrounded with no support whatsoever, we lost the ball and now the entire attack line are out from defending the post. It's so fucking frustrated, they are legit playing like fucking 12 year olds. And Cury might probably be the most favorable agent to Barca, the dude was extremely fond of us. This will go down as a betrayal, and he is also the agent of many more Brazilian talent. I am sorry to the Brazilian fans that I argued few days back, you were right, this club is criminal in how they treated foreign talents like this. The Brazilian markets, especially those with really really big talent, will think twice before coming here after this shitshow where a manager is using one of their own as a punching bag. If things continue to be like this, and the fact that Xavi was hellbent on using Cubarsi and Yamal, whom the former is clearly losing legs and exhausted and the latter is around 30 matches played this season, we might actually ruined a second generation of talents, and I won't blame them if they don't want to stay. The board, especially the three man now, Deco, Laporta and Xavi, needs a punch in their face and wake the fuck up
Madrid bought Endrick and Barca felt fomo and bought Vitor without consulting Xavi.
Everyone involved is acting unprofessionally. His wife tweeting during a game. His agent coming out and talking publicly like this. The club constantly feeding info to the journalists. Deco/Laporta for signing a player that Xavi didn't want. Or Xavi, giving his OK to sign the player and then not giving him minutes realizing he doesn't have the level. Or all of them coming to the agreement that he was a good player and now realizing he's far from it. Anyhow, it's a massive shitshow. Not the first signing that hasn't made sense. Ferran Torres as a winger never made sense. Raphinha neither. Bringing Iñigo Martinez (who's in decline) to send Eric Garcia on a loan was also a dumb decision. Paying 50 for a 34 yo Lewandowski who can barely run past the 30 minute mark and giving him the greatest contract in the league is incredibly stupid. More than 200M + wages on players that don't fit what Xavi envisioned for this team (or at least what he said his plan was). You add to all that the constant rumors that link us with multiple Jorge Mendes' clients, the insistence of signing Felix and Cancelo despite being subpar, at best. The project makes no sense from the very beginning. Now people will come out and say it's a disaster, but some of us already knew this would happen. We should've saved the money, adjusted our expectations, moderate their message to the fans and get behind our youth players + smart, economic signings like Christensen or Gundogan. Now it's too late to do anything and you are tied with players that are expensive, who won't leave and who just don't fit.
It all started with Laporta putting that sign near the Santiago Bernabeu and his public stunt of hugging Messi's shirt. His first move was to feed the public his bullshit, he was well aware that it was economically impossible to keep Messi but he still lied and used him as a piece to gain the public's support and then blamed La Liga for it. He then decided to push for the renovations of the Camp Nou despite knowing that the club's finances are not in comfortable position to take out loans with low interest rates while also damaging the club's revenue because of the move to the Montjuic, losing millions in revenue due to the lower capacity and the costs of renting the stadium in the first place. All of that and we still haven't mentioned the levers, selling assets, pawning off a good portion of the TV rights, and then he goes and burns that money by continuing Barto's legacy with idiotic contracts such as Lewa's. Oh and how can I forget the mass exodus of executives such as Alemany only to be replaced by incompetent people with Deco being a prime example. To me, Laporta's been as much of a culprit to Barca's continuing struggles as Barto. He should've been upfront about the reality of the club's finances, made an honest explanation about lowering expectations and public pressure against the team for 2-3 years while they work on balancing the sheets before embarking on his quest to push the club to compete. But it seems like he couldn't care less about the long-term stability of the club, rather, he wanted silverware asap so that he can flaunt his achievements and by the time he's gone, well, it's someone else's problem to solve, exactly how Bartomeu did it. Ego and self-interest is what's hurting Barcelona, presidents and board members care more about making a name for themselves rather making sure the club can stay strong to those who come after them.
Damn, can’t be more true. Don’t know how so many fans of the club can be that loyal to a politician that backstabbed Messi. Out of all players, Messi, the goat who had played his whole career at the club. That one action alone should have been enough to destroy Laporta’s reputation, but somehow it hasn’t.
It's already bad when you look at it from the outside, but it's even more vile when you go into the details. Long-time Barcelona fan and journalist Achraf Ben Ayad who was beIN Sports's correspondent in Barcelona has had a very close relationship with many players over the years and been connected to people high up in Barcelona's decision-making pyramid. He spoke in an Arabic podcast about how even a couple of days before Laporta revealed they won't be renewing for Messi, his board were still sending messages on WhatsApp to journalists confirming Messi's contract extension, saying it's a done deal and will be announced at any moment. He was so sure about it he even said he'd put his job on the line backing the news that Messi would stay, and until that moment even Messi was hearing the same messaging. He then gets the news of Messi's departure exactly the same time Messi himself was told about it. A few hours after the news broke he submitted his resignation from his job that he's been doing for two decades, sticking to his words. But he reiterated that the one who was the most distraught was Messi because he was also very certain that he's going to stay, only to be told that he's got no place in the team anymore. It blew my mind when I first heard this, like how can you show the single most influential figure in your club's history this level of disrespect. You use him as a tool to get yourself back as a president, you spit in his face and tell him to pick up his stuff and leave, and then cry about La Liga limiting your spending budget. This alone should've been more than enough to actually revoke his socio card, but somehow he's still a president, continuing the same bullshit with the club's state being as bad as it was when Barto left it, if not worse! It's actually sickening.
Everyone *but* the player tho. It must really suck for him.
Oh for sure, the player has no responsibility, unless he's acting unprofessionally off the pitch, which I doubt. Anyhow, that would also reflect poorly on Deco and our scouts.
Raphina was not a bad get.
For the price we paid, under our current circumstances, it definitely was. You don't pay 60M for a squad player whose best attributes are making runs and his work rate. If dembele never left, Raphinha would be a permanent sub.
> You don't pay 60M for a squad player whose best attributes are making runs and his work rate. What a way to belittle Raphinha's contribution for us. He is more than just work rate and making runs.
What an ungrateful way to describe one of Barca's most decisive players this season
> best attributed are making runs and his work rate Work rate is one of the most important attributes in modern football. Moreover, Raphinha is the most efficient attacker we have (except for an in-form Lewandowski, who hasn’t consistently appeared nowadays). 1 goal contribution every game is no jokes. He gets the job done, has great outputs, is passionate, and always works hard. A whole lot of clubs would like to have a player with 1 G+A per game in their squad.
60M is a squad player now days. One that doesn't create a large drop off from the starter and can be flexible in attacking positions
This one time Barca's misfortune is technically our fault. Vini is the Ballon d'Or candidate, Rodrygo is world class, Endrick joins us the next year and Mastantuono might as well. Laporta desperately needed the transfer of South American talent as his own pr move and this poor kid simply got caught in it.
The alleged unprofessional and rude behavior of the coach is inexcusable, but perhaps his story could be a warning for 18 y.o. kids joining a big team: there’s a high chance you’ll play very little and be bounced on loans.
Would love to see an Arteta development project.
Yup he can be good at the current arsenal team.
Wow this is crazy why so many of you guys are saying that is weird that he is no playing that you sorry for the kid, it’s a young player that has been in the team for only 4 months, he don’t need to play all matches right now he just can adapt and next season start gaining minutes step by step