Speaking to Marca, Leeds United full-back Junior Firpo has been speaking about his final season at Barcelona working under Ronald Koeman.
Sadly, the Spaniard didn’t enjoy himself towards the end of his time at Camp Nou, claiming that he lost his enthusiasm for football and he couldn’t understand the manager and how he would deal with his squad.
Firpo wasn’t pleased with the fact he wasn’t playing much, and he accused Koeman of lying to him about his reasons for leaving him on the bench.
What’s Firpo said?
Firpo gave a very honest reflection on his time at Barcelona.
“I lost my enthusiasm for football and I realized the importance of family. There were things with Koeman that I did not understand, and at certain times there were disrespect for me and my teammates. I do not understand that the day after a game, when the substitutes were training, he stayed in his room. If I’m a substitute and I have to show you things,” Firpo said.
“I asked him, and he started to lie to me. At that point, why would I keep asking him for them. He tells me things that don’t make sense, like that I train badly, that I contaminate the group. Ask who you want Let’s see if any of the staff tells you the same about me.”
Sad to hear
This is absolutely heartbreaking to hear.
Imagine you’re a young footballer who gets a dream move to Barcelona only to be mistreated by your manager and left on the bench.
Yes, Firpo was paid handsomely to sit on the bench, but he will have dreamed his whole life of playing top-level football, and at Barcelone, he had all of his passion taken away from him.
Hopefully, the full-back is enjoying his time at Leeds and he’s been able to rediscover why he loves this sport.
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