Barcelona’s Vitor Roque Transfer Drama: Palmeiras Deal Faces Bureaucratic Block, Yet €25M Sale Still Secure

The media followed Vitor Roque on Monday because his impending move from Real Betis back to Barcelona for Palmeiras approached finalization.

La Liga, together with the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), interfered to stop the deal because of procedural difficulties. The problem arises because Real Betis cannot loan Roque to Palmeiras since he currently cannot complete re-registration at Barcelona before any proposed sale.

The club has tried to resolve this issue by presenting the 2024 ‘Pedro Lima case’ to UEFA and FIFA as a ruling to enable Roque’s transfer. The ‘technical transfer’ principle utilized by FIFA enabled the permanent return of a player after the domestic transfer period had ended according to Barcelona.

Barcelona Trying All Loopholes To Sell Vitor Roque

The transfer negotiations between Palmeiras and Barcelona stopped on Monday night leading to signs the purchase might have failed. The spokesperson for SPORT, Joaquim Piera, has confirmed that Barcelona has a definitive deal with Palmeiras after both clubs agreed on the transaction terms verbally.

Barcelona will obtain a total of €25 million while receiving 80% of the economic rights to Roque’s contract.

The duration until which the transfer agreement gets finalized remains a matter of unknown projection.

What seems more likely is that this transfer will be completed this week because the Brazilian transfer window ends on Friday. But FIFA may open an extraordinary window starting June 1 as a result of the Club World Cup.

The present stance of La Liga creates hurdles because they forbid loaned player recalls from acquiring new team assignments after the transfer window shuts down, but everyone hopes that UEFA or FIFA will issue a favourable mandate to make this deal possible.

Roque’s departure from Betis would take effect instantly and he would sign with Palmeiras (while Betis receives no payment for such transfer).

The agreement between Palmeiras and Barcelona is confirmed, despite ongoing negotiations, as the club has committed to finalizing the €25 million transfer by the season’s end.