Bayern Munich sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic has suggested that Marc Roca might not have quite made it at the Allianz Arena.
The Spanish midfielder left the German giants in the summer after two years at the club to join Leeds United. He has since started every Premier League game next to fellow new arrival Tyler Adams.
But after only making 24 appearances in total across two seasons with the Bundesliga champions, Salihamidzic has admitted he was signed as someone who they could sell on to fund bigger moves after Covid-19 disruptions to their usual revenue streams. Bouna Sarr and Leroy Sane were also signed in the same summer as Bayern looked to balance the books during the pandemic.
Speaking to The Times he said: "We tried to get in players who didn’t pose a financial risk but made it possible to generate sales afterwards that allowed us to get some top players in. A player like Marc Roca might not have quite made it but he’s nevertheless a really good player, an interesting player, who’s a starter for Leeds United [now]."
Roca made the £8million move to Bayern after coming through the ranks at Espanyol, where he helped the club qualify for the Europa League in the 2019/20 season but they would eventually lose to Wolves in the last-32. He was allowed to leave at the end of the campaign, however, as Espanyol were relegated to the second tier of Spanish football for the first time in 26 years.
With many top European sides keen to sign him, Bayern managed to capture the player on a five year deal. But he struggled with injuries and failed to really cement his place in the side, with Joshua Kimmich, Leon Goretzka and Marcel Sabitzer ahead of him in the pecking order, while Ryan Gravenberch was signed in the summer to bolster that area as Roca moved on.
Meanwhile, Robert Lewandowski also left the club to join Barcelona in a deal worth around £30m, while Sadio Mane and Mathijs de Ligt were amongst those to join the club. Salihamidzic has explained their transfer strategy after a summer of change in Bavaria.
"We wanted to change a lot," Salihamidzic says, citing the hugely disappointing elimination in the quarter-finals of the Champions League against Villarreal. "It was obvious that Lewy was thinking about a move, but without having top replacements available, we wouldn’t have agreed [to let him go]. But we had many options, we tried to make one happen, and that allowed us to let him go. The fact that it was Sadio... it couldn’t have worked out any better for us."
