Leeds United have a number of players out on loan at the moment and a midfielder is now set to return to the club this summer ‘without knowing’ what will happen.
Victor Orta left before the revelation that he had included a clause in a number of senior players that allowed them to leave on loan in the even of going down, and it saw a whole host of stars jump ship.
Brenden Aaronson, Rasmus Kristensen, Max Wober and others left the club for moves to European clubs on loan. It allowed sides to land Leeds players without having to pay, only having to cover their wages.
Robin Koch and Luis Sinisterra have signed permanent deals with loan sides Frankfurt and Bournemouth. For the likes of Aaronson, Kristensen, Wober, Jack Harrison and others, their futures remain up in the air.
Marc Roca is another example, with the 27-year-old leaving Leeds on loan to join Real Betis for the 2023-24 campaign. He started really well but an injury has seen him fall out of Manuel Pellegrini’s side of late.
Last week, Roca said he would like to leave Leeds permanently and join Betis. Reports say there is a £10.5m clause in Roca’s deal that Betis must sanction to sign him, but it reduces if Leeds aren’t promoted.
Now, Spanish outlet Diario De Sevilla have delivered an update and it throws Roca’s future into doubt:
Marc Roca is now set to return to Leeds in the summer
The left-footed midfielder has played 35 times for Betis, having a hand in seven goals. An attacking part of his game rarely seen at Elland Road, but after injury he has been an unused sub in recent matches.
The report says that given he’s fallen out of the side, Betis are not as hell-bent on signing the midfielder permanently. It is now expected that Roca is set to return to Leeds with his future a complete unknown.
The chances of Roca returning to the Leeds fold seems unlikely given the fan reaction to these players jumping ship out of Leeds after playing a part in getting the Yorkshire side relegated last season.
Roca’s recent quotes are a worry for Leeds going into the summer
The left-footer recently said that there is a clause in his Leeds contract that says he can go on loan again, as he did in the summer, if Leeds do not get promoted to the Premier League at the end of the season.
Whether that is the same in the other players out on loan remains to be seen. But Ipswich’s win over Coventry has dramatically reduced Leeds’ chances of gaining an instant return to the top tier.
It is just another factor that raises the pressure on this Leeds side to go up again. Or, Farke faces another mess this summer of Leeds-owned players desperate to get out on loan, the Whites unable to sell them.