Dharmesh Sheth: This is why Junior Firpo signed for Leeds United
Junior Firpo wanted to join Leeds United from Barcelona because of Marcelo Bielsa’s style of play.
Firpo, 24, joined the Whites last month for £13million to solve Bielsa’s left-back problem after Ezgjan Alioski was released.
According to Sky Sports journalist Dharmesh Sheth, Firpo has been speaking to the broadcaster about his move to Elland Road and what convinced him to do it.
“New signing Junior Firpo has told Sky Sports News that Marcelo Bielsa’s style of play was a huge reason why he signed for Leeds from Barcelona for around £13million,” said Sheth in a clip on the Sky Sports website.
Why wouldn’t he be?
Bielsa’s style of football has to be one of the most attractive in the world with Leeds tearing up the Premier League last season.
While we Leeds fans knew what was about to hit England’s top-flight before winning promotion from the Championship, a lot of neutral fans and pundits were totally blown away by the way Bielsa had his team playing.
There was no fear and no hold-up from Leeds’ players as they got stuck in against top teams in England.
Of course, the pressing style did come back to bite us at times as we conceded a lot of goals in the first half of the season.
But once Bielsa fine-tuned his style for the Premier League, it led to more clean sheets and ended up taking the team to a ninth-placed finish.
We doubt many teams have come up from the Championship and played the way we have done.
And we can totally understand why Firpo would want to be a part of that when he was struggling for game-time at Barca.
In other Leeds United news, this forward has decided on his next club after the Whites pushed all the way to sign him.