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West Ham United lose out on Marc Roca to Leeds United
West Ham United have lost out to Premier League rivals Leeds in the race for Bayern Munich midfielder Marc Roca, according to 90min [June 13].
The Bundesliga giants have made the young midfielder available for transfer after he failed to impress under Julian Nagelsmann in the 2021/22 season, and the Hammers were said to be showing an interest.
However a deal for the 25-year-old is now close with Leeds according to a new report, as the Spaniard opts for more regular first-team minutes.
Roca was also attracting interest from West Ham, Wolves, Frankfurt, Villarreal, Sevilla and Real Betis and is available for around €15m.
Now Leeds are in pole position to get a deal done as soon as this week, meaning David Moyes has missed out on another target for this window already after seeing Darwin Nunez move to Liverpool too.
Ouch
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It’s fair to say that Roca probably wasn’t a priority target when you consider that his name barely came up, but it’s still not ideal that he’s opted to go elsewhere instead.
Moyes is looking to really bolster his squad this summer after what was considered a relatively consistent season in 2021/22, where they finished in 7th place and made it to the Europa League semi-finals.
Players like James Ward-Prowse and Kalvin Phillips have been linked previously and that shows the level of player they’re targeting, so Roca seems as though he was most likely a back-up in case those deals didn’t happen.
But with him now off the table, the club will have to readjust their plans if the move for top targets don’t come to fruition. With those deals being difficult to do, that seems likely.
It’s a blow for Moyes who was hoping to get business done relatively early and while other teams are getting targets in quickly, the Hammers are still sitting and waiting to secure their first deal of the window.
In other West Ham news, PL giants open talks with reps over blockbuster summer move
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