In the summer of 2024, FC Barcelona was forced to face severe restrictions. Unable to recruit at high cost, the Catalan club had limited its spending as much as possible. Thus, Dani Olmo joined the Catalan club from RB Leipzig, while Pau Victor arrived from Girona to provide an attacking option behind Robert Lewandowski. Both players had to deal with La Liga sanctions against FC Barcelona, which made them ineligible for registration at the start of the season and mid-season. While everything worked out, Pau Victor's Catalan season was mixed. While he wasn't disastrous and provided some service, the Sant Cugat del Vallès-born striker played only a minor role in the team, making 29 appearances but only 379 minutes of play (13 minutes on average per game), scoring two goals and providing one assist.
While he could have continued to be a stopgap solution, Pau Victor was ultimately sold by FC Barcelona this summer. The Portuguese club Braga appreciated what they saw during his signings. Thus, the Minhotos paid €12 million (plus €3 million in bonuses) for his services. A record figure for Braga, who had never spent so much money on a player. As expected, the main player was ambitious: "I spoke with the coach and he gave me incredible confidence that I haven't felt in a long time. He's a very perfectionist coach, who seeks to help the player in individual moments. I think he can help me a lot to understand the game better, find open spaces and create more scoring opportunities, which is crucial. His style of play is very similar to that of the club I came from."
Pau Victor greatly disappoints
Moreover, Pau Victor wanted to take the example of Abel Ruiz, former Braga striker who arrived from FC Barcelona, became Olympic champion with Spain in 2024 and selected with Luis Enrique's Roja in 2021. "I am convinced that SC Braga will help me achieve my dream. Abel Ruiz, who was here, was selected ," he said. And if the beginnings were interesting for Pau Victor, the rest was more laborious. A scorer in his second match and the first day of the championship against Tondela (3-0), Pau Victor also scored twice against the Lincoln Red Imps club, from Gibraltar. Since then, the Spanish striker has been running out of steam. Whether in the center, on the right side or on the left, he is going through a crisis of confidence and has gone eight matches without scoring. Not helped by the poor start to the season of his club, which is eighth and has gone six league matches without a win, Pau Victor has lost his starting place. Thus, Ricardo Horta (4 goals), Rodrigo Zalazar (6 goals and 1 assist) and Fran Navarro (4 goals and 1 assist) are more convincing than the player who has scored 3 goals in 15 matches.
Trying to find the levers to revive him, his coach Carlos Vicens believes that he is capable of turning the tables and that the real Pau Victor will reveal himself: "We are trying to take the pressure off him. He is a normal boy, who wants to work, to succeed and who quickly integrated into the locker room. Everyone welcomed him with open arms. He works very well every day and must go beyond the stage of the most expensive recruit in the club's history. We are all working to improve his performance day after day, and he has everything to succeed at this club: he has the intelligence, the workload, the versatility... It is only a matter of time before he delivers the performance we all expect from him." For the moment, Braga is waiting, because Pau Victor is clearly not at the level expected of a player who arrived from FC Barcelona with a record transfer.
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