‘I’ve Been Hit With Setback After Setback’ – Star’s Admission Year After Leeds United Exit | OneFootball

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Junior Firpo, who left Leeds United last summer, has insisted he is positive that he will enjoy a better next season after injuries disrupted his first campaign away from Elland Road.

The Dominican Republic-born left-back began his youth career with Real Betis and he was regarded as a top talent at the Seville-based outfit.

Catalan giants Barcelona picked him up in the summer of 2019 and he played 41 times for them in his two-year spell at the club.

Ex-Whites sporting director Victor Orta and former boss Marcelo Bielsa convinced the ex-Spain Under-21 international to move to Elland Road in 2021.

After joining them, the left-back admitted he was excited to see the Leeds project, but he had a mixed four-year spell at Elland Road.

Firpo played 119 times for the Whites, and last summer, he returned to his childhood club, Real Betis, after his contract expired.

The Dominican Republic international, though, faced multiple muscle and hamstring injury issues throughout this current campaign.

The 29-year-old has featured in 16 games across all competitions for Los Verdiblancos, clocking only 1,000 minutes at the Estadio de La Cartuja.

Firpo noted that even though he did his best to keep himself fit, stressing that football sometimes has its own way of working.

However, the ex-Whites star is very positive ahead with one game left in the current campaign, as he insisted that next season will be his.

“I’ve been hit with setback after setback with injuries, you take care of yourself and eat well, but football sometimes just works out that way”, Firpo said via Spanish programme El Chiringuito TV about his injury-hit campaign.

Leeds replaced the Dominican with Sweden defender Gabriel Gudmundsson, whose impact in the Premier League has been brilliant, as one former White has hailed the 27-year-old as ‘phenomenal’.

Firpo’s deal runs until 2028 at the Seville-based top-flight club and he will aim to have an injury-free next season at Los Verdiblancos.

He is sure to be keeping a close eye on events at Leeds, a club he even stuck with following their relegation from the Premier League, when a host of his team-mates triggered exit clauses to leave.