'Finally' - Marc Roca reveals Leeds United transfer timeline and opens up on Bayern Munich stay - YEP 17/6/22

Marc Roca became a Leeds United player during a flying visit on Friday but his move has been in the works for months.

By Graham Smyth

The midfielder jetted in, passed his medical, completed paperwork that will be ratified on July 1, posed for photos and met the media before jumping in a car to the airport to fly out again. He's spending the weekend in Ibiza with his girlfriend before returning to start their new life with his new club in earnest.

The idea of leaving Bayern Munich after two years wasn't overly difficult for the 25-year-old, who has nothing but good things to say about the German club but simply played too few games to consider sticking around.

The idea of moving to Yorkshire appealed when it was first broached ahead of the January transfer window.

"I heard of some interest in winter," he said.

"But some weeks ago they started the conversations and really I was honestly really excited at the beginning. And finally, I'm here.

"I stayed at Bayern for two years. I want to win more games, I want to play more games. And now I think it's a good challenge, a good opportunity for me to be here. And I'm very happy."

A new country and a new division will throw up challenges but Roca seems largely unfazed by the prospect. He may not have made a starting place his own at Bayern Munich but he held his own sufficiently to be held in high regard and kept involved enough to grow as a player. He upped the tempo at which he played and bulked up, too.

"I improved a lot," he said.

"Maybe I don't have a lot of games to show it but I think when I play, I do it very well. Now it's time to be here, to train hard, to keep getting more opportunities. Physically, I grew a lot in Germany. It's very different football in Germany than in Spain, in Spain it's more technical, in Germany it's more physical. And I [put on] five kilos in body weight as well, then I think I'm ready to be here.

"Everybody told me that the Bundesliga and Premier League are the most physical leagues in the world. I don't know, maybe, I will see. I will tell you something in a few weeks."

Not everything will be new and unfamiliar. Roca has an ex-Spain Under 21 team-mate in the Thorp Arch dressing room, in Junior Firpo, with whom he spoke before finalising his £10m move and four-year contract.

"Junior told me that it's an incredible club, it's an amazing atmosphere that you can be in this stadium, that the teammates are incredible, the atmosphere that you can breathe in the locker room is incredible."

The left-back evidently does a credible line in salesmanship and so too do Victor Orta and Jesse Marsch, who played major roles in painting a vision that appealed to the midfielder.

This transfer, like that of Brenden Aaronson and Rasmus Kristensen, has cantered over the line in brisk and efficient fashion because all parties think it a sensible move and everyone was on board long before flights into the UK were booked. Orta liked the idea of introducing Roca to the English top flight in January but had to wait half a season to get his man. As satisfying as it is for the director of football to tick another important box in his summer 2022 rebuild, everyone knows Roca will need to adapt in an environment that boasts fresh demands to the ones faced in Germany.

That idea doesn't trouble Roca either.

"Maybe the two first months in Germany were a little difficult, because it was very different," he said.

"But I trained hard, I adapted as fast as possible. And I will do the same here in England.

"Everybody in the locker room, everybody helped me since the first day and I'm very grateful for Bayern, for me it was a great, a very good experience. Of course, I wanted to play more games, but when I play I think I do my job correctly, and then I'm happy.

"[Culturally] it was easy to adapt because my girlfriend came with me, I had very good teammates. Everybody helped me there and it was not a problem for me.

"Now I'm not coming from Spain, I'm coming from Munich, it's more or less the same, the weather, everything is [similar enough] that it will be no problem for me."

Leeds, he will learn, is quite different to almost anywhere. Playing at Elland Road, in particular, is an experience that so many have described as unique and special.

Roca doesn't seem fazed. He does seem excited, though.

"Everybody told me about Elland Road, everybody told me about the atmosphere that you can live here," he said.

"I can't wait to start the games."