Marc Roca: Leeds' Spanish Midfield Reinforcement

Jesse Marsch knew what he needed his Leeds United side to be last season. Tenacious, efficient and above all compact. A team modelled on semantics and playing football in the spirit of its founding fathers, they found themselves having to temporarily abandon these ideals to secure their topflight status.

Marsch defied expectations and dragged his team kicking and screaming to safety. Now he’s looking to build a team in his image. Where the American previously utilised the hard-running combativeness of Adam Forshaw, deep-lying midfielder Marc Roca has come in to instil calm, composure and creativity. Leeds are looking to dictate their fortunes this season, and Roca will be central to this. 

25-year-old Roca is Leeds’s third signing of the summer. With Bayern Munich receiving a €12 million guaranteed fee plus add-ons for his services. Deemed surplus to requirements by the German champions, Roca struggled for game time throughout his time in Bavaria.

A combination of persistent injury problems and competition saw the former Espanyol man amass just over 1000 minutes of game time during two years at the club. Leeds offers Roca salvation. He is not a player short of talent, as even Bayern’s sporting director Hasan Salihamidžić has attested to. But ultimately, very few players in world football displace Joshua Kimmich or Leon Goretzka right now.