Arsenal could reportedly make a move for promising Espanyol midfielder Marc Roca in the summer.
The 23-year-old broke into the first team in 2016, and has developed well since making his debut.
As per Sport (via Transfer Market Web), the Gunners are interested in signing Roca, who could be available for around €16 million in the summer.
Football London have reported that Bayern Munich are also interested in the player, and they could trigger his £35m release clause.
The Spaniard has two years remaining on his current deal at Espanyol. He has made 108 appearances for the club, scoring 3 goals and assisting 6 times, in all competitions.
Roca is yet to make an appearance for the Spain senior team, but he was a part of the Spanish Under-21 squad that won the UEFA European Under-21 Championship last year.
Marc Roca – What will he add to Arsenal?
Roca can play the central midfield role as well as a deep-lying holding midfielder. The 23-year-old is a player who is influential in both defence and attack, and is a live wire when on the top of his game.
In a defensive midfield role, he likes to drop deep, pick the ball from the defenders and dictate the tempo of the game with his assured passing. He averaged 48.6 passes per game in the 2019-20 La Liga season, averaging 4.4 long balls per game.
He also gets into good positions defensively and presses well to compress the midfield area, which Arteta would love to have in his midfield. He likes to get stuck in and make tackles as well, averaging 2.4 tackles and 1.5 clearances per game in the league.
Roca has been compared with the likes of Liverpool legend Xabi Alonso, with his passing, defensive ability, as well as his leadership in the midfield area. He would be a good addition to the Arsenal squad that needs a shrewd tackler and distributor in the deep midfield role.
The current midfield options for Arteta – Lucas Torreira, Granit Xhaka, and Mattéo Guendouzi, have been inconsistent, injured, and have lacked vision going forward.
At 23, Roca is at the right time in his career to make the big step up to the Premier League and to a team like Arsenal.
