'It was tough': £13m player suggests he is still upset by what Leeds United told him during the summer

Leeds United have bounced back well from what was a very challenging summer.

Daniel Farke watched Archie Gray, Crysencio Summerville and Georginio Rutter all walk out of Elland Road after the Whites lost the Championship Play-Off final to Southampton, but has reacted impressively with two wins and two draws from four Championship outings so far.

Now – however – there has been a piece of negative news at Leeds United…

Junior Firpo on how Leeds United upset him

Junior Firpo has now suggested that he is still unhappy by Leeds United’s decision to block him from playing for the Dominican Republic at the Olympic Games.

Mundo Deportivo quote the £12.8m man as saying: “It was tough, I tried until the last day but they told me that since I was an important player, one of the leaders and captains, they needed me at the start of the pre-season.

“I was telling them that, for me, it was going to be something unique but it didn’t work out.”

The Dominican Republic ended up drawing two and losing one of their three matches at the Olympic Games without Firpo – failing to progress out of the Group Stage.

A 3-1 defeat to eventual champions Spain was sandwiched between a 0-0 draw against Egypt and a 1-1 draw with Uzbekistan.

Harsh decision

Of course, Farke wanted Firpo involved throughout pre-season for obvious reasons, as Leeds United have another attempt at winning promotion back to the Premier League this term.

However, as the 28-year-old said himself, it would have been something “unique” and significant for him in his career, so we feel Leeds United should have taken the bigger picture into consideration here.

Hopefully, Firpo has not become too demoralised by the summer decision, and can put 100% of his focus into helping Leeds United return to the Premier League.