Leeds United Live journalist Beren Cross has provided a fairly damning assessment of Junior Firpo’s home debut.
This summer, Leeds signed Firpo from Barcelona for a fee reported to be in the region of £13m.
Having featured off the bench in the club’s 5-1 away loss at Manchester United, Firpo made his full home debut from the start against Everton at Elland Road this weekend.
However, Cross has claimed that the defender’s performance in the 2-2 draw was not particularly consistent throughout the match, where he found himself having to deal with Alex Iwobi.
While speaking on a Leeds United Live Facebook video about his display, Cross said: “In the second half, I felt like he almost fell off a cliff.
“I just felt like Alex Iwobi is not a particularly scintillating player, and it just felt like he was either feeling it in his legs, or he just didn’t quite have the intensity. At no stage did I think Firpo was a massive attacking threat.”
TIF Thoughts on Junior Firpo and Leeds…
Leeds fans may well be disappointed to have not seen much ‘attacking threat’ from the defender so far this season. Indeed, when a signing arrives having played for Barcelona, it’s only natural to expect some real quality to be present.
A good example of this is Lucas Digne, who lined up against Leeds for Everton over the weekend. The former Barcelona man has assisted 20 goals, and scored five himself, since joining the club in 2018 (as per Transfermarkt).
However, considering Firpo is still new to the club, it may take him a while to get used to playing in Marcelo Bielsa’s intense and demanding system.
With just one point from their opening two Premier League fixtures, both Leeds and Firpo will likely be hoping to improve in the coming weeks.