Man Utd target ‘will not play for Barcelona again’ as £34m striker has ‘number taken away’ by Flick

Barcelona are looking to sell Manchester United-linked striker Vitor Roque after taking the No. 19 shirt away from him, according to reports.

Roque joined the La Liga giants from Brazilian outfit Athletico Paranaense for €40million (£34million) in January 2024.

He has made 16 appearances for the Blaugrana, scoring twice and picking up a red card in a La Liga match against Alaves after receiving two yellow cards in five minutes after scoring.

His slow start to life in Barcelona led to the player’s agent, Andre Cury, insisting Roque deserves more minutes on the pitch.

“I think Vitor Roque has to have more minutes,” he said.

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“Nobody understands why they’re not giving him that. Xavi has never spoken to the player, I don’t understand it.

“[Roque] has to work and work harder, and wait for the opportunities, but I believe there were already many, many games in which those minutes could have been given, so we wouldn’t need to be talking about this issue today.

“He is very strong mentally and physically, and has a bit of enthusiasm to show that because in the club and the press there is a lot of nonsense being talked about.

“Bad figures who are saying things that are not true. All of this does not help. Look what happened with Vinicius [Junior] at Real Madrid, it took him two seasons to play. Here in Barcelona, a mess has been created in two months. People want to kill, not help.”

The 19-year-old was strongly linked with Man Utd and Tottenham before joining Barcelona and the Red Devils have continuously been linked after the Camp Nou transfer was finalised.

It was reported last month that Erik ten Hag’s side had made a ‘first offer’ to sign Roque.

Since then, they have signed Joshua Zirkzee from Bologna and might no longer be interested in the Brazilian teenager as a result.

However, Sir Jim Ratcliffe could be on alert amidst reports Barcelona want to sell Roque this summer.

According to reports in Spain, the 19-year-old striker ‘will not play for Barca again’ and is available for €60m (£51m).

Hansi Flick’s side appear to have lost all faith in Roque having made him available for transfer and taking the No. 19 shirt – which Lionel Messi wore for a period – off of him to hand to La Masia wonderkid Lamine Yamal.

Barca were tempted to give Yamal the famous No. 10 jersey but are eager to avoid putting pressure on the 17-year-old, with No. 19 the ideal alternative, meaning they are ‘taking away Roque’s number’.

Blaugrana head coach Flick will depend on Robert Lewandowski up front and it is expected that Roque ‘will leave Barca soon’ as a result.

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