Junior Firpo wants Leeds United exit for European football, cut price move to Inter on the cards
Junior Firpo wants to play European football and will be a cut-price target for Inter if Leeds United are relegated, according to Inter Live.
If Javi Gracia doesn’t keep the club in the Premier League then the left-back could leave for as little as €10million [£8.7million], as long as the Serie A giants can shift Robin Gosens to the Bundesliga.
If the two conditions of relegation and an exit for the German international are met then the Elland Road defender could head to Milan to achieve his goal of playing “important” European games.
Firpo, for so long derided as a flop after his arrival from Barcelona, has been enjoying a sustained run in the Leeds United starting line-up since the departure of Jesse Marsch.
But his potential is still seen as “untapped” after making just 34 Premier League appearances over two seasons, and frequently off the bench, and is now being lined up for realisation in Italy.
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At times over the past 18-months United fans would have bitten anyone’s hand off to pay millions for Firpo as he struggled to adapt to life in the top flight, leaving left-back a problem position throughout.
The summer window surprisingly passed with only the 26-year-old at the position in light of Stuart Dallas’ broken leg, but the hierarchy appeared content to hand him the starting role despite a difficult first season.
He then got injured himself and missed the first month of the season, before having to sit behind Pascal Struijk until Marsch was sacked on 6 February.
Michael Skubala and now Javi Gracia have put him back in the team and he responded with a standout performance and the winning goal in the Spaniard’s first game in charge against Southampton (25 February).
But it would be so typically Leeds to sign a player from the Camp Nou who flatters to deceive for a year-and-a-half and as soon as he starts to come good the club contrives to lose him.
Relegation would make a Firpo departure the least of the Whites’ concerns but it would be a particularly frustrating footnote if events head down that path.
In other Leeds United news, the club are lining up a free transfer move for a European Champion described as “one of the most complete” on the continent at his position.
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