Leeds United news: Dominican Republic head coach makes unrealistic push for Junior Firpo international change
Dominican Republic head coach Marcelo Neveleff has been on a recruitment drive and was pictured with Leeds United left-back Junior Firpo in an attempt to change his international allegiances, according to Leeds Live.
Firpo, 26, was born in the Caribbean’s capital city, Santo Domingo, but moved to Malaga when he was six and has picked up four caps for the Spain Under-21s team so far in his career.
The report shared that it is an “unrealistic” attempt by Neveleff so far and that a “sledgehammer” would have been a more subtle move than the photo that reached social media of Firpo and the Dominican Republic boss together.
“A sledgehammer would have been more subtle than Marcelo Neveleff’s recent photograph with Junior Firpo,” Leeds Live journalist Beren Cross wrote.
“The Dominican Republic head coach was on a recruitment drive around Europe at the start of the month and the offensive with Firpo could not have been more charming.
“As a former Real Betis and Barcelona defender currently playing in the world’s foremost domestic competition, Firpo would be on another level or three from anyone else who currently plays for his birth nation. It would be a major coup for Neveleff to talk Firpo back into the arms of his countrymen, but still unrealistic as of last week.
“Firpo was happy to speak with the Argentine and meet him in the UK, but he still harbours hopes of playing for Spain’s senior team. Intriguingly for Firpo, the new Spain boss is responsible for the defender’s only previous taste of Spanish international duty.”
Star-studded Spain
Firpo is going to have to improve his game drastically if he harbours any serious ambitions of regularly featuring in Spain’s star-studded squad in the future.
Since arriving at Elland Road in 2021, the former Barcelona man has been a major disappointment. Under Marcelo Bielsa, he wasn’t given the time of day and it wasn’t until Jesse Marsch’s dying days in the job that the 26-year-old got a consistent run of minutes with the first team.
Although he has improved under Javi Gracia, scoring a significant match-winner against Southampton and improving his defensive game markedly, he still has a long way to go if he wants to impress the Spanish coaching set-up.
If he were to change his international allegiances to the Dominican Republic, Firpo would certainly be the star player and easily be in with a chance of donning the armband.
At 26 years of age and with no secure position in the Spain squad, this is one to mull over for the Leeds defender.
In other Leeds news, Richard Keys was stunned by what he saw during Leeds’ 4-2 win v Wolves.
Be sure to follow MOT Leeds News on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date with all the latest, breaking news from Elland Road.