Betis wants to make a move in January
. Both Manuel Pellegrini and the leaders are convinced that it is necessary to reinforce the squad and that is where the option of Marc Roca , the Spanish midfielder for Bayern Munich, has emerged, who has not been counting on minutes and is looking for a loan for the winter market.
The Verdiblanco club is well positioned to obtain the loan of the former Espanyol player, although for this it will also be necessary to lighten the Betica squad, which has the 25 first-team players occupied and has even been using three players with a subsidiary number – Rober, Rodri and Miranda–.
The center of the field has been one of the positions that has given Pellegrini the most headaches. The continuous injuries of Paul or Camarasa have left him without two troops and practically Guido Rodriguez, William Carvalho and Guardado are distributed all the minutes, also counting on the contribution of Sergio Canales when he acts as a central midfielder. Faced with this situation, the coaches want to reinforce that position and there the option of Marc Roca has appeared, unprecedented this season with Bayern Munich.
The German team paid about ten million euros, plus other amounts for objectives, in October 2020, taking advantage of the need for Espanyol, which had to sell after relegation to Second. Months before, the Catalan team had referred to the termination clause, estimated at 40 million euros, to all those teams, including Betis, who had explored the possibility of signing Marc Roca, a player with a huge under-21 international projection.
Dani Ceballos, another latent alternative
Every time the transfer market opens, the name of Dani Ceballos appears linked to Betis news and now the same thing happens again. The midfielder is clear that the Verdiblanco team would be his preference in January and his last wink, attending the derby in a private box at Benito Villamarin, was one more example of his desire to return home. The Betis leaders are very aware of this possibility, although everything will depend on the negotiation with Real Madrid. If in the summer the contacts between the clubs were very positive and even the incorporation was very advanced, now we will have to wait for the demands of the white team, which would like to cash in with Ceballos, either in January or next summer.
But the midfielder’s adaptation to Bayern Munich has not been easy. Last season, Marc Roca barely played 11 games with the German team in all competitions –6 in the Bundesliga, two in the German Cup, two in the Champions League and one in the Club World Cup–, a very small contribution. This year his presence has even decreased, after an injury kept him out of training for much of the summer.
About to turn 25 and with a contract with Bayern until 2025, both the midfielder and the German coaches understand that the best thing for Marc is through a loan in this winter market so that he can play the minutes of competition that are denied him at Bayern, where the competition is very high for that position. Players like Kimmich, Goretzka or Sabitzer close the door on him at Bayern, who also have other options like Tolisso, Cuissance or Tillman. In addition, the elimination of the Teutonic team in the cup of their country means that the minutes to be distributed have also decreased in that other competition that is usually used to use less common players.
Very positive reports of Marc Roca have been handled at Betis for a long time, as he was a young player with projection and who was placed on the radar of Heliopolitan technicians. From the same batch as Dani Ceballos and Fabian, together with them he was proclaimed champion of Europe under 21 in a midfield that aroused the attention of the great European teams.
Marc Roca’s versatility is valued, since he can act both as a pure center midfielder, which would allow Guido Rodriguez to be freed in certain games, as well as accompanying the pivot, in a position more similar to the one that Guardado has been occupying. Endowed with a very good technique and ball exit, the midfielder does not shy away from work without the ball, especially due to his excellent tactical positioning.
