Phil Hay has claimed that he expects to see Junior Firpo back in the Leeds United first team after the international break.
Firpo is clearly seen as the man to be the perfect left-back for Jesse Marsch, otherwise, when he went down injured with a pulled hamstring during pre-season, the American boss and Leeds hierarchy would have looked to bring in a replacement.
Instead, Leeds have been plodding along with Pascal Struijk filling the void left by Firpo, but that may not be for much longer after the full-back got 75 minutes of football under his belt last week for the club’s Under 23s.
Hay has now claimed on The Phil Hay Show that he expects to see Firpo return to first-team action for the next game.
“For Marsch, the sole concern on the evening will have been to put through as many minutes as he could the players who were allowed to play so, Firpo for example and Cooper and Bamford getting a hat-trick cannot be bad for him and his finishing touch.
Will Firpo thrive under Marsch?
Yes!
No!
“With Firpo playing as much as he did you would assume that on the other side of the international break, he’s actually going to be able to be in contention for the first team.”
TIF Thoughts on Firpo…
While it’s all well and good putting faith and trust in Firpo to come back and slot right into Marsch’s system, he had very little pre-season due to his injury, and his injury record is far from pleasant reading.
Firpo only managed to start 19 league games last season due to injuries and a lack of form, although the whole of the Leeds side last season struggled for good form, although it doesn’t necessarily bode well going forward for the full-back.
It will be a big test for Firpo’s fitness and durability if Marsch decides to throw him in at the deep end next weekend when Leeds take on Aston Villa when they will be hoping to pick up their first win in the league since August 21.