Vitor Roque deal pushes Barcelona star over the edge

Stuart Telford

• 7 Dec 2023 15:32 GMT
• 3 min read

Ferran Torres is pushing to leave Barcelona in January with the arrival of Brazilian prodigy Vitor Roque set to push him further down the attacking pecking order.

That's according to Spanish sports daily AS, who report that the former Manchester City winger is already unhappy with his position at Camp Nou.

Ferran has only started seven of his 14 La Liga games this season, and feels he should play a greater role in the team with only Robert Lewandowski leading him in the goalscoring charts, with seven league goals to his three.

"The player doesn't rule out leaving the club in the medium term," writes Juan Jimenez. "The godfather of his signing, Mateu Alemany, is no longer at Barca, and the signing of Vitor Roque doesn't help him either.

"The relationship between the player's management and Xavi's staff is not the best."

Flight of the wingers

Alemany left his role as Barcelona's sporting director in September after their former midfielder Deco was given full control in that department.

Roque, who is normally used at No.9, can also play wide, and has scored 21 goals in all competitions for Atheltico Paranaense in 2023. The 20-year-old will arrive on loan in January before completing a transfer worth up to €61m in the summer.

La Masia graduate Lamine Yamal and Joao Felix, who arrived on loan from Atletico Madrid on transfer deadline day, have arrived as Xavi's first-choice players in the wide attacking positions in support of Lewandowski.

Ferran is valued at €34.1 million by FootballTransfers' in-house algorithm, and Barca will be happy to cash in on more than just him as they look to pull out of the crippling €1 billion debt they still find themselves in.

Ansu Fati, on loan at Brighton, is available for transfer, as is Raphinha, another wide man deemed surplus to requirements.