Junior Firpo has been left out of Barcelona’s matchday squad after missing out on a January move to Arsenal, Southampton or West Ham United.
With Barca choking on Atletico Madrid’s dust in La Liga as a dramatic defeat to Athletic Bilbao in the Spanish Supercup keeps Cules up at night, the Copa del Rey represents the best chance of silverware for Ronald Koeman this season.
So don’t be surprised if the Catalan giants go full-strength during a tricky trip to Granada’s Nuevo los Carmenes stadium tonight.
Lionel Messi, Antoine Griezmann, Sergio Busquets and more have been included in Koeman’s 20-man matchday squad with a place in the semi-finals on the line.
But there was one notable omission; a seldom-seen, £18 million left-back who was expected to depart the Camp Nou before Monday’s transfer deadline.
ESPN reported that West Ham were keen while Southampton tried to strike a loan-to-buy deal at the eleventh hour (Marca).
Arsenal also failed with an approach for the former Spain U21 international, having allowed Sead Kolasinac to return to Schalke without a replacement lined up (Mundo Deportivo).
Now, with the window closed until the summer, it seems that Firpo has fallen even further down the pecking order. Let’s just hope the Camp Nou bench is a comfortable one.
Firpo was nowhere to be seen in Barca’s squad ahead of the Granada clash, with Sport claiming that the versatile Sergino Dest and Sergi Roberto will act instead as Jordi Alba’s back-up.
Has he played his final game in those red and blue stripes already?
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