Marc Roca ticks boxes and Leeds United on their A-game over 'plan-B' - David Prutton

If, as suggested, Leeds can get him for around £10m then that sounds pretty decent in today’s footballing terms.

Obviously, if he signs then the proof will be in the pudding as to whether he is any good or not but that experience of being at a club the size of Bayern would stand him in good stead to play for a club like Leeds.

Leeds have been exploring Roca as one of the options for competition and cover for Kalvin Phillips and, when Phillips was out last season, Leeds certainly missed him.

But also when he came back, collectively Leeds got themselves over the line in terms of staying up but each individual has to look at their form and I would even put Kalvin in that but only because of the ridiculously high standards that he has set so we expect a lot from him.

If someone comes in that can be there as a foil or be there as a means of pushing him on or possibly even being good enough to be that starting player in that position then all well and good.

I think, from Leeds’ point of view, they are tooling up at the right time and these early signs show that maybe they are taking heed of that particular warning about how close it was last season with the injuries they had and the squad being stretched so ridiculously thinly.

Leeds have been relying on Kalvin but it’s the same with Patrick Bamford in that the reason that you end up relying on players is because they play well so that’s what they’ve done here.

I’m not saying it lulls them into a false sense of security but any player and any squad is only as good as its fitness and the ones that are available. If you get decimated with injuries as they did and if there’s form and fitness coming into it as well, then these are all things that they’ve got to be ahead of the curve with.

The team was ticking around Kalvin at its absolute very best and operating up top with Patrick so you’ve got to make sure that there is a plan B because that’s what we seemed to spend most of last season talking about - that no plan B for what happens when the key players are out.

It was almost a sense of just hanging on for dear life and I am sure it was way more intricate than that but to be able to avoid that position once again is where they need to find themselves.

There are continued reports that Manchester City are going to come in with a big bid for Phillips and suggestions of a £60m bid. If they come in with a £60m bid then he’s gone.

I know what he means to Leeds and what Leeds means to him but if that is the case then he could go and play for one of the greatest managers that the game has ever seen in Pep Guardiola and a team that is a bunch of serial winners and is getting pushed better and better by a very good Liverpool team.

He could be part of a dynastic kind of group of players that could do something really special at Manchester City.

If you are a Leeds fan, you are probably thinking ‘cheers’ but that just goes to show the sliding-doors moments.

Twenty-odd years ago it was Man City that were pratting around in the third tier and look where they are now.

But Leeds’ aim is or motivation has to be to get somewhere akin to what Manchester City have done even though that’s a long way off.

With City, you get the feeling that once Fernandinho moves on then there’s a gap in that team that is potentially tailor-made for Kalvin.

It all remains to be seen but you’d be hard pressed to begrudge him that, I think, and, given the size of the club and where City rank in Leeds’ rivals, it would probably fit absolutely perfectly in moving on his career but without ruining the legacy that he’s got at Leeds.

I could definitely see City coming in for Kalvin.

Whether it gets to that point of him being priced out of the market because he is English then that is another step for them to take.

But, other than that, I think that because of the temperament of the kid and the way that he approaches his game, it would be music to the ears of Pep to have someone like him at his disposal to work with and, if you were Kalvin, then what a move in every single sense.