Napoli remain interested in Barcelona’s Junior Firpo
Barcelona would be keen moving on the former Real Betis left-back.
Barcelona acquired Junior Firpo from Betis in 2019 with the intent of providing competition for Jordi Alba. However, things have not gone according to plan.
Under Ernesto Valverde, Quique Setien and now Ronald Koeman, Firpo has been relegated to the bench and played very little. Unsurprisingly, rumors ramped up that Barca were looking to sell him.
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Napoli continues to be the team interested in Firpo. According to Diario Sport, the Serie A side want Firpo on a loan deal with an option to buy. Barcelona’s plan is to sell him and collect a transfer fee.
There are also reportedly a number of Premier League sides interested as well with the Catalan giants setting a price tag of €20 million.
He’s not played much since arriving and when he has, it becomes evident why Alba is still the starter. The willingness to join the attack that he showed while at Betis has disappeared since joining Barcelona.
At times he’s been deployed as an emergency right-back or as part of a back three. That was the case in the Champions League match against PSG.
He was used thereafter Koeman subbed off Oscar Mingueza who was already on a yellow card.
To his credit, Firpo played well and looked comfortable playing out from the back. He also managed to nullify the threat that is Kylian Mbappe who, aside from the penalty, was relatively quiet.
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Still, at this point, he has one leg out of Barca. New president Joan Laporta has the intention of coming to a mutual agreement with some players to rescind their contracts. One has to imagine Firpo is on that list.