Marc Roca - Leeds Sign Bayern Midfielder

[Coma+]

Per Phil Hay at The Athletic.  Can't post the article as it's a paywall.

 

[Lucas]

Dubious of this one.

Admitedly, never heard of him or seen him play. However, this screams Junior Firpo vibes, signing a reserve player from a European giant expecting him to be decent and actually he's gash.

Personally, I'd rather we chucked our eggs in one basket with either James Garner or Lewis O'Brien.

[Stan]

42 minutes ago, Lucas said:

Dubious of this one.

Admitedly, never heard of him or seen him play. However, this screams Junior Firpo vibes, signing a reserve player from a European giant expecting him to be decent and actually he's gash.

Personally, I'd rather we chucked our eggs in one basket with either James Garner or Lewis O'Brien.

He was quality at Espanyol, and did go to Bayern with high hopes. Not sure why it didn't work out there but perhaps just needs to get his career back on track. 

[Coma+]

3 minutes ago, Stan said:

He was quality at Espanyol, and did go to Bayern with high hopes. Not sure why it didn't work out there but perhaps just needs to get his career back on track. 

@Viva la FCB can weigh-in on this but I'm not sure he really got the playing time he needed to continue his development.  And consider that Bayern's midfield was/is stacked so realistically who was he going to replace?

[Viva la FCB+]

Roca just never really got a chance in Munich is the long and the short of it. He had a small run of matches when basically everyone was injured and even then in Nagelsmann's first seasons he chose to try and play Musiala in the middle instead when the option was there. I think Roca's fine infact he showed fairly well in the limited minutes he got. 

[...Dan]

As Stan said he was very good at Espanyol. A classic Spanish 6, good passer, good vision to pick out forward passes, and cool when pressed to pick out good passes under pressure, but not very mobile or fast. I don't know if Leeds fans are expecting Phillips to stay or not, but if they bring in Roca it's probably as his replacement.

[Spike]

What is Bayern’s fascination with Spanish and French players? There record signing is a Franco-Spaniard lmao

[Viva la FCB+]

Apparently deal to be announced later this week. Fee of €12m + €2m in add ons and will sign a 4 year deal with Leeds. 

[Lucas]

This one's done. Third of the Summer. He joins Aaronson and Kristensen. And I'm fairly positive we won't stop there.

Might faint with all this pro activeness in the window.

[Coma+]

On 17/06/2022 at 18:43, Lucas said:

This one's done. Third of the Summer. He joins Aaronson and Kristensen. And I'm fairly positive we won't stop there.

Might faint with all this pro activeness in the window.

Happy with this deal. 

There's been talk of Tyler Adams coming in if Kalvin leaves.  We need to stop with the Red Bull/USA revival here.  Adams isn't all that imo.  

[Dave]

On 17/06/2022 at 23:43, Lucas said:

This one's done. Third of the Summer. He joins Aaronson and Kristensen. And I'm fairly positive we won't stop there.

Might faint with all this pro activeness in the window.

I get the impression Orta is very good at his job but was stiffled by Bielsa's desire to have a small but intensely trained squad. After the injuries you had last season I think you needed to be proactive in the market early on. It sounds like Aaronson was done back in January.

[Lucas]

1 hour ago, The Palace Fan said:

I get the impression Orta is very good at his job but was stiffled by Bielsa's desire to have a small but intensely trained squad. After the injuries you had last season I think you needed to be proactive in the market early on. It sounds like Aaronson was done back in January.

I'm 50/50 on Orta. Made some good calls (like Raphinha), but also some equally bad one's (Firpo).

There probably is some truth in that. We know for fact they tried to get in Harry Winks and Donny Van Der Beek on loan in January but Bielsa turned both down. He didn't think they would offer much value long term and wanted to save tje club's money. I see his point. 

I'd also say there was a combination of Bielsa open to signings as long as they were in his mind, quality signings, not just for the sake of it. Unfortunately, he never got that support. I think they refused to spend big knowing there was a good chance he would walk away in the summer whatever are outcome.

And on the flip side of all that, I'd also suggest Radrizzani was reluctant to spend in January incase we went down or, the 49ers bought out his share in the club, which was heavily rumoured.

Aaronson deal was virtually agreed in January bit he wanted to stay whilst they had Champions League than move straight away, hense why it was all wrapped up quickly end of season.

End of the day, the club knew they got away with it and have actes quickly under huge pressure from the fans. Its been a good start but obviously much hinges on what we do if/when Phillips and Raphinha go.