Reported Arsenal and West Ham United target Junior Firpo was left out of Barcelona’s matchday squad for their 4-0 Copa del Rey final victory over Athletic Bilbao at the weekend.
The former Spain U21 left-back may have featured in both legs of the dramatic, semi-final victory over Sevilla but that counted for little when Ronald Koeman’s Catalan Kings took on the Basque giants in Saturday’s decider.
Firpo was conspicuous by his absence from the 20-man matchday squad, omitted alongside highly rated La Masia graduate Riqui Puig and £55 million forgotten man Miralem Pjanic.
According to Marca, Koeman’s decision was purely tactical.
Firpo, it seems, was fully fit and ready to play against Marcelino Garcia Toral’s Athletic side. His absence, then, seems to hint that the former Real Betis man isn’t part of Koeman’s long-term plans at Camp Nou.
Interestingly, Firpo has only been left out of the squad for three other games in 2020/21.
Perhaps, with the Copa del Rey permitting two fewer players (20) than for a La Liga fixture (22), this suggests Firpo is one of Koeman’s last picks when making his selection ahead of a game?
Firpo can just about sneak into a La Liga squad. When tasked with trimming down his selection even further, the attack-minded full-back is one of the first to be left at home.
Then again, as the likes of Alexis Sanchez, Yaya Toure and co have shown, there’s life outside the Blaugrana. Sometimes the grass really is greener away from the scorched Spanish earth.
It’s no secret Arsenal are in the market for a left-sided defender and Firpo, who was the subject of a January bid from the Gunners (Mundo Deportivo), would fill a rather obvious void in Mikel Arteta’s XI.
The lack of depth beyond the injury-hit Kieran Tierney is nothing short of staggering.
West Ham, meanwhile, were willing to take £18 million-rated Firpo off Barca’s hands in January (ESPN) and may be tempted to reignite their interest.
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