Leeds United left-back Junior Firpo has been vital to Daniel Farke’s success with the side in 2024, and had he been fit from the outset, we may have been home and dry already this season.
Leicester City’s rout against Southampton last season effectively ended the hopes for the league title at Elland Road, which would have made it three for Daniel Farke – not to mention getting thumped by QPR on Friday night taking a hammer to automatic promotion altogether, with the Foxes now up officially
The fact that winning the title became a legitimate conversation for Leeds does show how well they have played in 2024 to turn around a 17-point deficit, only to stutter in two home league games in April and relinquish grip, then losing to QPR to cement that dread.
This week saw an initial huge step in the right direction for Leeds as they managed to put that bad spell behind them and come away from a frantic Middlesbrough clash with maximum points.
A 4-3 win for Leeds saw Crysencio Summerville the star of the show once again, but two assists from Junior Firpo were massive for Leeds, taking him to seven in the league, all coming in 2024 when he returned to fitness.
After the game, the left-back shared a message for the away fans that were at the Riverside, grateful for their contribution to the result:
Of course, in retrospect it matters little, now that Leeds backed it up with the most sorry of performances at Loftus Road, but Firpo’s efforts even then on Friday were more commendable than most.
Leeds had to play virtually all of the first half of the season with Firpo on the sidelines due to more injury problems – his first appearance coming in mid-November.
While Sam Byram has been a fairly reliable defensive and aerial presence for Leeds and a great addition for free, attacking output has been massively more consistent since Firpo’s run of starts in 2024.
Up until Blackburn at home, Leeds were unbeaten in 2024 in the league and one of the main factors in that upturn of form was Firpo being such a key outlet on the left flank, supporting Summerville with not only constant overlapping runs, but also supply in good passes to the winger.
Had Leeds had this dimension to their attack for the first half of the season, it is more than reasonable to suggest that they wouldn’t have allowed Leicester and Ipswich to create such a gap in the first place, therefore Leeds would have been in a strong position to win the league title.
Those two were virtually unstoppable in the first half of the campaign, but the same can be said of Leeds from the new year up until the March international break, where Firpo found his best form in a white shirt.
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