Athletico Paranaense forward Vitor Roque will not rush back from his ankle ligament injury, as he looks to prioritise his arrival at Barcelona.
The 18-year-old was stretchered off recently against Internacional after a bad tackle left his ankle ligaments ruptured. Having agreed to follow a conservative course of treatment, avoiding surgery, Roque is due to be out for 8 weeks.
Roque could thus return before the end of the Brazilian season, finishing the first weekend of December, but he will not rush back ahead of time, and will aim to be fully recovered for his move to Barcelona.
🚨 JUST IN: Barcelona have told Vitor Roque that there will not be any problems with his registration in January. Currently recovering from an injury, his next game will be for Barcelona. @joaquimpiera 🇧🇷 pic.twitter.com/2kaYcGjN8U
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) September 27, 2023
Having agreed a €61m deal to move there, officially he will make the leap in July of 2024, but part of the reason for those decisions are that Barcelona have told him that he will be a Barcelona player in January, as per Sport. They say there is a strong chance he has played his last game in Brazilian club football for some time.
Manager Xavi Hernandez is reportedly pushing Sporting Director Deco to make a deal happen, in the knowledge that relying on Robert Lewandowski as their only natural number nine for a whole season at 35 is not wise. There are concerns that after the renewal of Lamine Yamal and the loans for Joao Felix and Joao Cancelo that Barcelona will be unable to fit him into their salary limit. La Liga President Javier Tebas has declared that it is possible, but said Barcelona would need to make sales or savings beforehand.
