Leeds pay £10m transfer blow as loanee ‘closer than ever’ to next move

Leeds United flop Marc Roca looks set to join Real Betis, but it remains to be seen whether he will rejoin the Spanish side on loan or sign for them permanently.

When Leeds were relegated to the Championship last season, Roca was among a host of players who went out on loan for the 2023/24 campaign or left the club permanently.

While there was a degree of excitement over his £10million move from Bayern Munich in the summer of 2022, the Spaniard was one of many signings to disappoint as they finished 19th in the Premier League.

Faced with the option of helping Leeds out of the Championship or finding a move to one of Europe’s top five leagues, the former Espanyol man jumped at the chance to join Betis on a season-long loan in July last year last.

Since then, Roca has played 37 times for the La Liga side, scoring four goals and providing three assists. On the face of it, this looks like a very productive move for the 27-year-old, but the first half of the campaign has been more fruitful than the second.

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Between August and December 2023, Roca started 16 out of 19 La Liga matches and was in the starting XI for all six Europa League group stage matches.

At the start of 2024, however, Roca was struck down by a viral infection, before an ankle injury and struggles for form limited his playing time in Manuel Pellegrini’s side.

In the early months of his loan, Betis were keen to sign Roca permanently, but fast forward to now and he is understood to be highly unlikely to exercise his £10.25m purchase option to signed the man from Leeds.

And given Roca’s comments earlier this year, it looks like he could return to Betis on loan next season after Leeds failed to secure an immediate return to the Premier League after losing to Southampton on Sunday in the Champions League play-off final at Wembley.

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He previously said: “There is a clause like this year. If Leeds are not in the Premier League, I can go on loan again. See. It depends on whether it goes up or not.

“There are things out of my control. I wish you all the best to go up, as I wish all the teams I’ve been in and I wish you all the best. I am grateful to them, I wish them well, it was my home and we will see from there.”

Now, ABC Seville states that Betis will not exercise their option to buy Roca and that extending the loan should not be a problem and Estadio Deportivo claims the midfielder is “closer than ever” to extending his stay with the Spanish outfit.

mark adds that Betis may step up negotiations to try and sign him for a cut fee, but if not, they will have the “principle” of getting a good deal for him in 2025 when his contract expires.

With Leeds failing to return to the Premier League, a £10m financial boost would have been welcome, but for now it won’t be the case.