Junior Firpo

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In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Firpo and the second or maternal family name is Adames.
Junior Firpo
Personal information
Full name Héctor Junior Firpo Adames[1]
Date of birth (1996-08-22) 22 August 1996 (age 25)
Place of birth Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Height 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s) Left-back
Club information
Current team
 Leeds United
Number 3
Youth career
2011–2012 Atlético Benamiel
2012–2013 Tiro Pichón
2013–2014 Puerto Malagueño
2014–2015 Betis
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2015–2018 Betis B 45 (2)
2018–2019 Betis 38 (5)
2019–2021 Barcelona 24 (2)
2021– Leeds United 2 (0)
National team‡
2015 Dominican Republic 1 (0)
2018–2019 Spain U21 4 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 21 August 2021
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 30 June 2019

Héctor Junior Firpo Adames (born 22 August 1996), known as Junior Firpo or simply Junior, is a professional footballer who plays for Premier League club Leeds United. Mainly a left-back, he can also play as a centre-back or right-back.

Club career[]

Real Betis[]

Born in Santo Domingo, Junior moved to Benalmádena, Málaga, Andalusia at the age of six[2] and joined Real Betis' youth setup in June 2014, aged 18, from Puerto Malagueño.[3] He made his senior debut with the reserves on 15 February 2015, starting in a 1–1 home draw against Granada B for the Segunda División B championship.

Definitely promoted to the B-side ahead of the 2015–16 season, Junior appeared regularly during the season, which ended in relegation. On 17 April 2016 he scored his first senior goal, netting the third in a 4–0 away win over Algeciras[citation needed].

On 1 August 2017, after spending the whole pre-season with the main squad, Junior renewed his contract until 2021.[4] He made his first team – and La Liga – debut the following 12 February, starting in a 1–0 away defeat of Deportivo La Coruña, becoming the first Dominican Republic-born player to have ever featured in La Liga.[5]

Junior scored his first professional goal on 17 March 2018, netting the first in a 3–0 home win against Espanyol.[6] On 19 August, after being promoted to the main squad, he agreed to a contract extension until 2023.[7]

Barcelona[]

On 4 August 2019, Junior signed a five-year deal with Barcelona for €18 million plus €12 million in add-ons.[8] He made his debut three weeks later in a 5–2 home win over his former club Betis, playing the last nine minutes in place of Rafinha.[9] On 28 September, Junior scored his first goal for Barcelona and the second goal against Getafe in 2–0 win.[10] On 27 November, he made his UEFA Champions League debut in a 3–1 group stage victory over Borussia Dortmund.[11]

On 13 February 2021, Firpo scored his second (and last) goal for Barça in a 5–1 home win over Alavés.[12]

Leeds United[]

On 6 July 2021, Firpo signed a four-year deal with Premier League club Leeds United for a fee of €15 million plus add-ons, with Barcelona reserving rights to 20% of his future sales. He is expected to replace Ezgjan Alioski at the left back role after Alioski's contract expired,[13][14] and made his debut for the club in that position on 14 August in the second half of the season opener at Old Trafford, where he came on as a tactical substitute for Rodrigo in a 5-1 loss.[15]

International career[]

Despite being born in the Dominican Republic, he has spent the majority of his life in Spain and continues to hold citizenship for both countries.[5] On 9 October 2015, he played the entire second half of a 0–6 non-FIFA friendly loss for the Dominican Republic senior national team against the Brazil Olympic team.[16]

On 31 August 2018, Junior was called up to the Spain under-21 team for two 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying matches against Albania and Northern Ireland.[17] He made his debut on 7 September, starting in a 3–0 win against the former.[18]

Club statistics[]

As of match played 14 August 2021
Club Season League National Cup Europe Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Real Betis B 2014–15 Segunda División B 2 0 0 0 — — 2 0
2015–16 30 1 0 0 — — 30 1
2017–18 13 1 0 0 — — 13 1
Total 45 2 0 0 — — 45 2
Real Betis 2017–18 La Liga 14 2 0 0 0 0 — 14 2
2018–19 24 3 1 0 4[a] 0 — 29 3
Total 38 5 1 0 4 0 — 43 5
Barcelona 2019–20 La Liga 17 1 2 0 4[b] 0 0 0 23 1
2020–21 7 1 4 0 6[b] 0 1[c] 0 18 1
Total 24 2 6 0 10 0 1 0 41 2
Leeds United 2021–22[19] Premier League 1 0 0 0 – 0 0 1 0
Career total 108 9 7 0 14 0 1 0 130 9
  1. ^ Appearance(s) in UEFA Europa League
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b Appearance(s) in UEFA Champions League
  3. ^ Appearance(s) in Supercopa de España

Honours[]

Barcelona

Spain U21

References[]

  1. ^ "Acta del Partido celebrado el 16 de agosto de 2019, en Bilbao" [Minutes of the Match held on 16 August 2019, in Bilbao] (in Spanish). Royal Spanish Football Federation. Retrieved 17 August 2019.
  2. ^ "Juvenil | Junior Firpo, "Black Power" para el juvenil del Real Betis" [Juvenil | Junior Firpo, "Black Power" for Real Betis' youth team] (in Spanish). Futbol Carrasco. 3 September 2014. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
  3. ^ "El Betis cierra varios fichajes para su cantera" [Betis complete various signings for their youth setup] (in Spanish). Manquepierda. 20 June 2014. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
  4. ^ "Junior extends his contract with Real Betis". Real Betis. 1 August 2017. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b Lastra, Luis (23 February 2018). "Junior: "Cuando llegué a España, no sabía ni qué era el fútbol"" [Junior: «When I arrived in Spain, I did not even know what football was»] (in Spanish). El Correo de Andalucía. Retrieved 31 August 2018. I have dual citizenship because I've been here (in Spain) for fifteen years. It is not that I consider myself more Spanish than Dominican, because I feel very proud of being Dominican and of my country, but I have been here for a long time and I also consider myself Spanish.
  6. ^ "El Betis mira a Europa en la noche negra de Pau" [Betis aim to Europa in Pau's dark night] (in Spanish). Diario AS. 17 March 2018. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  7. ^ "Junior and Real Betis extend the existing contract between them until 2023". Real Betis. 19 August 2018. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  8. ^ "Barça sign Junior Firpo". FC Barcelona. 4 August 2019. Retrieved 4 August 2019.
  9. ^ "Junior Firpo: Barcelona apologise over Betis tweet". BBC Sport. 26 August 2019. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
  10. ^ Pettigrove, Jason (28 September 2019). "Getafe CF 0–2 FC Barcelona: A capital victory". FC Barcelona. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
  11. ^ Roberts, Mike (28 November 2019). "Barça 3-1 Borussia Dortmund: WunderBarça!". FC Barcelona. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
  12. ^ "Barça 5-1 Alavés: Fantasy football". FC Barcelona. 13 February 2021. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
  13. ^ "Agreement with Leeds United for the transfer of Junior Firpo". FC Barcelona. 6 July 2021. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
  14. ^ "Junior Firpo: Leeds sign Barcelona full-back for undisclosed fee as Ezgjan Alioski replacement". Sky Sports. 6 July 2021. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
  15. ^ "Manchester United 5-1 Leeds United". BBC Sports. 14 August 2021. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  16. ^ "Seleção olímpica arrasa a frágil República Dominicana em Manaus" [Olympic national team thrash the fragile Dominican Republic in Manaus] (in Portuguese). Rolando a Bola. 10 October 2015. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  17. ^ "OFICIAL | Esta es la convocatoria para los partidos ante Albania e Irlanda del Norte" [OFFICIAL | This is the call-up for the matches against Albania and Northern Ireland] (in Spanish). Selección Española de Fútbol. 31 August 2018. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
  18. ^ "3–0: España vence a Albania y sella su pase a la Eurocopa sub-21" [3–0: Spain defeat Albania and seal their qualification to the under-21 EURO] (in Spanish). Mundo Deportivo. 7 September 2018. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
  19. ^ "Games played by Junior Firpo in 2021/2022". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  20. ^ "Spain U21 2–1 Germany U21". 30 June 2019. Retrieved 1 July 2019.

External links[]

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