Marc Roca to join new teammates at St George’s Park on Tuesday with £10m+ Leeds United exit on the cards
Marc Roca can be all but considered a Real Betis player as he continues to wait for his loan move from Leeds United to be finalised, according to Mundo Deportivo.
The Spanish newspaper reported on Saturday (15 July, page 17) that Real Betis had been waiting to offload players in order to fund the arrival of 26-year-old Roca. On Friday (14 July), the La Liga club managed to complete exits for Dani Martin and Rober.
It is understood that Roca, and ex-Arsenal right-back Hector Bellerin, should now be able to join Manuel Pellegrini’s side officially on Tuesday (18 July).
Mundo Deportivo says Betis are set to use England’s St George’s Park training base next week, meaning Roca will be meeting his new teammates for the first time within the UK.
It’s unclear whether there’s a permanent clause in his loan move to Betis but there are possibilities for either a £10.3million option-to-buy clause or a two-year loan extension if Leeds miss out on promotion next season.
Roca hasn’t worked out at Leeds.
He was one of seemingly few Victor Orta signings last summer with Jesse Marsch having more control over transfers.
Marsch decided to just sign players he’d already worked with or were born in the same country as him while Orta continued to just look at Spanish players.
It’s a strategy that can work but with Roca, he was rubbish
There are a lot of players who simply cannot take to the Premier League. For one reason or another, it’s hard for them to adapt on these shores.
Roca fits into that category and maybe a move back to Spain will see him do a lot better.
He’ll be working for a good manager in Pellegrini and will also have some very good teammates around him so he should do a lot better there than he did at Elland Road.
Hopefully he does well enough that Betis end up paying a good fee for him because that extra cash will definitely help Leeds out in the long term.
In other Leeds United news, a “secret meeting” has been held for this player to sign for the Whites on a permanent basis.
