Barcelona’s Junior Firpo set to join Leeds United

After two seasons since joining Barcelona from Real Betis, Junior Firpo’s time at the club is close to coming to an end.

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According to Mundo Deportivo, the Spanish left-back is close to completing a move to the English Premier League where he would join Leeds United.

The soon-to-be-former Barcelona left-back is in England for his medical

The move appears to be imminent as the player is already in England, preparing to take his medicals for his new club.

Both teams see the signing as a done deal with an official announcement coming sooner rather than later.

Leeds’ director of football, Victor Orta, has been the main proponent of the move and has dealt with the Catalan side directly.

Once the move is finalized, it is expected that Firpo would sign a four or five-year deal. Barcelona would pocket around €15 million, which could see it go higher with add-ons.

Firpo joined Barcelona back in the 2019-2020 season from Betis for a transfer fee of €18 million-plus a possible €12 million in variables dependent on the player’s performance.

He was brought in with the intention of serving as a competition for Jordi Alba and was a signing that former manager Ernesto Valverde wanted. But as happened with other left-backs like Lucas Digne and Juan Miranda, Firpo could not supplant Alba as the starter.

He wasn’t given much playing time under Valverde and looked lost when he was given an opportunity. His situation did not improve under Quique Setien who was his manager when they were both at Betis.

His playing time was even more scarce under Ronald Koeman.

A change of scenery is probably for the best for Firpo. He joins a side in Leeds United that are coached by Marcelo Bielsa whose teams play a unique style of attacking football. Firpo could slot in as either a full back or wing back in Bielsa’s system.

While he was unable to show it in his two seasons at the Camp Nou, at Betis Firpo was a threat going forward. Perhaps Bielsa is the manager who could exploit his qualities and get the best out of him.