The pre-season was supposed to be massive for Marc Roca as he planned to force into the starting XI under Julian Nagelsmann at Bayern Munich. However, the Spanish midfielder has suffered a massive setback even before playing the first pre-season game of the campaign.
Die Roten confirmed on Saturday that Roca would be ruled out for weeks due to an ankle ligament injury. Roca suffered this injury during training. The Spaniard will not undergo surgery for this injury, but he will be ruled out for weeks to recover from this setback.
The Spaniard had worked hard on the pitch and gym during the vacation to make himself ready for the new campaign. Moreover, Roca had also decided against going to Tokyo with the Spanish team for the Olympics. He was focussed on getting a good pre-season under his belt after a challenging debut campaign in Bavaria. The Spaniard struggled to get adequate playing time under Hansi Flick last season.
As things stand, Marc Roca will not play a single game during the pre-season. The former Espanyol midfielder might also end up missing the first couple of games in the Bundesliga. Considering the amount of effort and dedication he had put in during vacation, this is a cruel blow for him.
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However, everything is not doom and gloom for the Spanish midfielder. Nagelsmann had tried to sign Roca at RB Leipzig before Die Roten swooped in. Since the German manager was eager to work with him at the previous club, there is a good chance that Roca will get considerable game time when he recovers from the ankle injury.
Marc Roca was also excited to work with Nagelsmann after hearing good things about the manager from his Spanish teammate Dani Olmo. The young midfielder will have to wait few weeks to get the opportunity of playing under him. Roca showed a great attitude to prepare for the pre-season, so there are no doubts about him returning strongly from this setback.
Apart from Roca, Die Roten has already lost Lucas Hernandez and Alphonso Davies to serious injuries this summer. Both players are doubtful for the first league game of the season against Borussia Monchengladbach in mid-August.
The majority of senior international players will be returning for pre-season by the end of July. Nagelsmann will be hoping that there are no further injury setbacks before the start of the season. In the meantime, the German manager will be looking at younger players during the next couple of weeks.