Chelsea are reportedly spying a shock move for former Barcelona centre-forward Vitor Roque, but TEAMtalk can explain why the transfer would be a bad idea.
Chelsea overhauled their striker options in the summer, letting Nicolas Jackson join Bayern Munich on a loan-to-buy deal while signing both Liam Delap and Joao Pedro. Jackson’s transfer to Bayern was initially halted following news of Delap’s injury, but Chelsea ultimately let the Senegalese head to Bavaria and decided to recall Marc Guiu from his Sunderland loan instead.
Delap picked up a serious hamstring problem in just his third Premier League appearance for Chelsea. Enzo Maresca has confirmed the Englishman is ‘very close’ to returning to training.
Pedro’s Chelsea career got off to a blistering start, but he has struggled in recent weeks. The Brazilian seems to perform better when he is playing just behind a more natural No 9, which is why rising star Guiu has started to pick up more minutes in recent games.
Despite Delap edging closer to returning, Chelsea have been tipped to bolster their striker ranks in January with the capture of Roque, who now represents Palmeiras.
According Goal Brasil, Chelsea are ‘closely monitoring’ Roque’s progress back in South America and are ‘evaluating an offer for him in the next transfer window’.
Roque has had a ‘comeback’ at Palmeiras, hitting 17 goals in 46 matches.
The report claims that this has piqued the interest of both Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur.
Palmeiras chiefs see the one-cap Brazil international as a key part of the first team and will therefore only sell for a huge price, potentially as high as €77million (£67m / $89m).
Palmeiras spent just €25m (£22m / $29m) when signing Roque from Barca in February, so a transfer worth €77m would see them make huge profit.
While the 20-year-old is successfully reigniting his career, TEAMtalk has serious concerns over a prospective move to Stamford Bridge.
First of all, securing a big transfer in January would be extremely risky for Roque given it is a World Cup year.
If he continues scoring for Palmeiras then he stands a chance of making it into Carlo Ancelotti’s Brazil squad, where he could provide backup for the likes of Richarlison and Igor Jesus.
But it is not guaranteed Roque would go straight into Chelsea’s starting line-up given Delap is about to return and there is also competition from Pedro and Guiu.
Roque warming the bench in west London would end his aspirations of representing his country at the World Cup.
Roque’s form at Barca means Chelsea should steer clear, too.
He arrived at Barca in a €40m (£35m / $46m) deal in January 2024 and was heralded as Robert Lewandowski’s successor.
But just 16 games and two goals later, Roque was loaned out to Real Betis. He spent the first half of last season with Betis before joining Palmeiras on a permanent basis.
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Vitor Roque struggled at Barcelona – he’d flop at Chelsea too
Then Barca manager Xavi said at the time that the club signed him too early and should have let him develop in Brazil for longer.
Roque struggled to adapt to the elite level of Spanish football, and this saw Xavi lose all faith in him. There were even reports that Xavi stopped speaking to the youngster at one stage.
Roque found game time hard to come by and ended up leaving Barca without making any serious impact.
While the player is scoring in Brazil once again, it is hard to see him thriving at Chelsea given how he performed for Barca.
If Chelsea are serious about adding another No 9 to Maresca’s squad, then they should land someone who has experience scoring at a high level in Europe.
Dusan Vlahovic and Samu Aghehowa are two more suitable options.
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In addition to centre-forward reinforcements, Chelsea have been backed to snare a new central midfielder in 2026.
The Blues have been linked with some surprisingly experienced options, and TEAMtalk’s Dean Jones has examined one particular target.