Real Betis are absolutely certain they will not use the purchase clause they have for Leeds United’s Marc Roca, believing he can be bought for less.
That’s according to Estadio Deportivo, who say Leeds United’s failure to secure automatic promotion from the Championship has boosted Betis’ belief they can get a more favourable deal.
The newspaper reports that Betis were served good news on Saturday as Ipswich Town secured the second automatic play-off spot in the Championship and left Leeds United facing the play-offs.
The Spanish side will be keeping a close eye on how they go, rallying against Daniel Farke’s side as failure in it would suit them perfectly.
They want Roca on a permanent basis and have a €12m clause in his current deal to make that happen but have decided they are not going to exercise that at any point.
That’s because they believe they can sign the midfielder for less and are willing to put the effort in to make that happen. Leeds not getting promoted would further help it, particularly as Roca has a clause in his contract allowing him to leave on loan again if that happens.
He will enforce that clause if he needs to, as he did last summer to get to Betis in the first place, where he’s since established himself as a key player under Manuel Pellegrini and made it clear he wants to stay.
Indeed, he’s already making a financial effort to seal the move and Betis are willing to match that, even if they don’t want to pay €12m.
The ideal situation is that Leeds don’t get promoted, they sign Roca on loan again and use their money elsewhere, and the Whites failure to get promoted on Saturday was a step closer to that happening.
