Marc Roca is ‘likely’ to make a return to La Liga this summer after Leeds United’s relegation to the Championship.
That is according to the Athletic, who report ‘all the recent noise’ hints that Roca will move back to his native Spain after just one season at Elland Road.
Leeds paid around £10 million to sign Roca from Bayern Munich 12 months ago and was handed the task of helping to fill the void by Kalvin Phillips.
However, like many of last summer’s signings, Roca struggled in the Premier League after a promising start to his Leeds career, and in truth, never got close to replacing Phillips.
Roca had been a regular under Jesse Marsch and Javi Gracia but was used sporadically under Sam Allardyce, making 32 league appearances in total.
Roca set for La Liga
It was reported even before Leeds’ final day defeat to Tottenham Hotspur that Real Betis had began talks over a move for Roca.
Betis will be playing in the Europa League next season and have been long-term admirers of Roca, even failing in a bid to sign him from Bayern last summer before Leeds nipped in.
Roca was just never really suited to the tactics of any of the managers he played under at Leeds, while he also struggled to adapt to the physicality and speed of the Premier League.
A move to La Liga could help him recapture the form that saw Bayern originally bring him to the Allianz Arena from Espanyol in 2020.
He is one of a number of players set to leave Leeds this summer and a move certainly feels the best for all parties here.
Receive a digest of our best Leeds content each week direct to your mailbox
