Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez has expressed his confidence that he will have new signing Vitor Roque available for their first league clash of 2024, as they travel to Las Palmas.
The 18-year-old Brazilian arrived just before the new year, and has completed a transfer that could rise to €61m for Athletic Paranaense, although just over half of that are variables. However with Roque has not been presented by Barcelona yet, and there are reports that La Liga are not allowing Barcelona to register Roque.
In his first press conference of the year, Xavi explained that he was relying on him being registered before their 21:30 CEST clash against Las Palmas.
“The registration process is the only thing missing. He will be in the squad list. We hope to have him available, I imagine it’s a question of hours.”
“He is very young, he looks prepared to me. He is physically good, he has taken care of himself. A lot of professionalism, he is very eager but we will proceed with caution, we will go bit by bit. He has adapted well to the group.”
Former player Bojan Krkic is looking after Roque during the early stages of his move to the Catalan capital.
“It’s been quite easy. We have Bojan for that, Raphinha is practically his chaperone, Araujo also speaks Portuguese. We’ve already made videos for him so he can adapt as quickly as possible, and see what we want from him.”
Xavi: "I am more concerned about the defensive aspect than the offensive one at the moment. We can't concede so much."
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) January 3, 2024
Meanwhile Gavi, Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Marcos Alonso, Inigo Martinez and Pedri through injury. Xavi explained that Martinez, who trained with the group this week, will be back for their Copa del Rey clash with Barbastro on Sunday, while Pedri would return ‘soon’, although he gave no date. He did not rule out Pedri’s presence at the Spanish Supercup next week though.
