Southampton are to consider making a revised attempt to bring Barcelona defender Junior Firpo to St Mary’s in the summer, having thought they had reached an agreement to take him in January, per The Athletic.
Firpo has found himself down the pecking order at Barcelona having been limited to just four appearances for the Spanish giants so far this season (Sofascore), and the 24-year-old was duly the subject of a lot of transfer speculation in the winter window. West Ham were reportedly interested in the defender, while Arsenal reportedly missed out on a late move for him.
The defender only arrived at Barcelona in the summer of 2019 from Real Betis for a fee of around £16.5m and his five-year deal with the club reportedly includes a mammoth £180m release clause, per Sky Sports. Despite that high valuation, the left-back – who can also play at right-back and centre-back – has not been able to fully convince since his move to the Catalan giants.
Southampton were reportedly in the race for him in January and the Saints even thought that they had agreed a deal to take him to St Mary’s on loan for the rest of the season. However, after that failed to materialise, they are now set to consider whether to make another attempt at bringing in the 24-year-old in the summer, according to The Athletic.
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Firpo could have been an ideal signing for the Saints in January given his versatility of being able to cover all positions across the back four, especially with an injury crisis currently enveloping Ralph Hasenhuttl’s squad.
The defender has not been able to convince at Barcelona, and he only made 17 La Liga appearances in his first season at Camp Nou (Sofascore). However, he was excellent for Real Betis in 2018/19, with three goals and four assists to his name as well as averaging 1.3 successful dribbles, 1.6 tackles and 1.5 clearances per match (Sofascore).
He is need of a fresh start to get his career back on track and, if Southampton can get him in the summer, it could be quite a coup. Firpo should consider the chance to work with a coach such as Hasenhuttl, who could be the right manager to get him back towards the levels he had shown before his big-money switch to Barcelona.
