Journalist Conor McGilligan has slammed Leeds United’s recruitment after Junior Firpo was benched recently.
Despite recovering from a recent injury to be available for his club’s 0-0 draw against Crystal Palace in the Premier League this week, the left-back only made the bench. In his place, Stuart Dallas filled in – as he had done for the four games prior – despite that not being his most natural position.
Firpo was signed from Barcelona for a reported fee of around £13m, so it would make sense for him to be the clear first-choice option when fit, but this doesn’t seem to be the case.
Was Junior Firpo a poor singing by Leeds?
Yes
No
With that in mind, McGilligan has criticised the Whites’ activity in the transfer market, claiming the decision to sign the £10.8m-rated 25-year-old was ‘shoddy’.
Talking on the One Leeds Fan Channel, when giving the players a match rating for their efforts against Palace, he said: “Dallas, three [out of 10]. Not a left-back, not going to be left-back in this system.
“Slightly worrying that even when Firpo’s fit, Dallas gets ahead of him – which just shows the sort of shoddy recruitment in terms of bringing Firpo in.
“And Firpo shouldn’t have got ahead of Dallas for me last night. But yeah, [Dallas was] poor last night.”
TIF Thoughts on Junior Firpo and Leeds…
After putting in the 3/10 display against the Eagles (in the eyes of McGilligan), it will be interesting to see whether Dallas keeps his place in the Leeds squad or if Firpo is given a chance.
Due to his injury, the Dominican Republic defender has only featured twice for the Whites under Jesse Marsch, but clearly didn’t do enough to force his way back into the team immediately after his recovery.
Firpo has certainly struggled in his debut season, and it’s easy to see why McGilligan has been left disillusioned with the board’s recruitment in this instance. However, he is still adapting to life in Yorkshire, and at 25 years of age, he could still come good. Still, when you splash the cash on a man from Barcelona, you’d probably expect him to arrive as a more finished product.
In other news: Days are numbered: Leeds ‘liability’ could now be in trouble as Orta plans talks – opinion