Barcelona lead race for Brazilian prospect Vitor Roque, Arsenal also in the hunt

There are growing reports in recent days over Barcelona’s interest in Athletico Paranaense wonderkid Vitor Roque, and the Catalans have made him a No.1 target for the summer.

Goal Brazil is the latest one to report that Barca are leading the race for the Brazilian prospect, while Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and Newcastle United are also keeping tabs on his situation.

Premier League giants Arsenal are also in the mix, with sporting director Edu making an enquiry with Paranaense about Roque’s situation.

However, Barca are ahead in the pursuit after reportedly holding concrete talks with the Brazilian outfit.

Athletico-PR, who owns 85% of the player’s economic rights, have inserted a terminating clause worth €60 million in Roque’s contract.

If Barca were to trigger it, Roque could become one of the expensive young signings from Brazil after Endrick Felipe, who has signed for Real Madrid.

Perhaps, Barca were keen on Endrick before their arch-rivals edged out them and snapped him from Palmeiras in a deal worth around €70m. As a result, the Catalans turned their attention towards Roque.

Roque, who will turn 18 at the end of this month, had his breakout season with Atheltico-PR last year before seeing his stock sore up after a terrific run in the ongoing South American U-20 Championship. He has netted six goals in seven games in the tournament.

The Gunners will look to take advantage of Edu’s Brazilian connection to add Roque to their ranks, but Barca are unlikely to give up as they cite him as a player of the club’s long-term plans.

In addition, the odds are in favour of the Catalan giants as Deco has been permitted to oversee the negotiations for Roque. The Portuguese agent, also a former Blaugrana legend, has a healthy relationship with president Joan Laporta, and most notably, he engineered his client Raphinha’s move to Camp Nou last summer.