Junior Firpo has not asked to leave Leeds United, will not join Real Betis in January
Junior Firpo has not asked to leave Leeds United in the January transfer window and Real Betis are not interested in re-signing him, according to Estadio Deportivo.
Writing on their website (12 December), the Spanish news outlet report that while Betis are keen to sign a new left-back there have been no talks about signing Firpo from Leeds and that contrary to reports he hasn’t asked to leave Elland Road.
Estadio Deportivo themselves reported (24 November) that talks had been opened about a move, while Sport (29 November) reported the player was “burning with desire” to leave.
The report does confirm that Firpo is in contact with people at Betis as he used to play there, but there have been no talks of a transfer.
Eyes peeled
The future of Junior Firpo is certainly an interesting topic right now, which is a surprise considering what people were expecting in the summer.
Most people would have bet their house on the left-back leaving before the season started but he suffered an injury which ended those plans, and has since come back into the reckoning under Daniel Farke.
But Sam Byram is comfortably the first-choice in that position now and Farke hasn’t been afraid to shuffle the pack and use Jamie Shackleton too, which means he is by no means short on options.
If Leeds received a good offer for Firpo it would be a surprise if the club didn’t at the very least seriously consider it, because with his injury record and performances since he’s been here they have more than proven that they can cope without him.
However if he ends up staying then it won’t be a bad thing in the chase for promotion back to the Premier League, as the more depth we have the better.
In other Leeds news, Pundit tips ‘Absolutely Unbelievable’ Leeds star to keep summer signing out of Farke XI.