Vitor Roque: Arsenal and Chelsea told to pay huge transfer fee for Brazil wonderkid

Robin Bairner

• Updated: 23 May 2023 09:09 CDT
• 3 min read

The European clubs chasing Brazilian wonderkid Vitor Roque have been told that they are still a “long way” off matching Athletico Paranaense’s valuation of the player.

Arsenal, Chelsea, PSG, Real Madrid and Barcelona have all been linked with the teenaged striker, who finished as joint leading scorer along with the Blues’ Andrey Santos at the U20 South American Championships as Brazil won the title in Colombia.

At just 17 years old, he is not yet old enough to move to Europe because of FIFA legislation, but he turns 18 on 28 February, meaning that clubs can hope to sign him in the summer transfer window.

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Indeed, Mario Celso Petraglia, president of Athletico Paranaense has revealed that there has already been concrete interest in the teenager – but no deal is close yet.

“There's a race for Vitor Roque. We cannot afford to pay what the Europeans pay. We've already received calls and offers, but they didn't reach our asking price. It's still a long way off,” he told Globo.

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How much will Vitor Roque cost?

It is reported in Brazil that the Rubro-Negro have already rejected a bid worth €25 million for the player and are hoping for something in the region of €50m to do a transfer – plus a percentage of any re-sale.

This would represent excellent business from Paranaense, who signed him for a club-record fee of €4.3m (R$24m), last April when they triggered his Cruzeiro release clause after making an impressive start to his professional career with the second-tier club.

Since moving to the top flight, his reputation has only grown. Last season he scored five goals in 29 matches while his excellent form at the U20 South American Championship will have only sharpened interest in him – as well as heightened media attention.

His case will doubtless be compared to that of Endrick, who was signed by Real Madrid for a total fee that could amount to €72m, including an up-front cost of €35m.

The battle to sign Endrick was an intense one, and the signs are that the fight for Vitor Roque will be every bit as hard fought.