Junior Firpo was one of the new faces to arrive at Leeds United in the summer transfer window.
The left-back joined the Whites from Barcelona, where he struggled to enjoy regular game time in his two seasons at the Camp Nou.
On Thursday, the 25-year-old gave an interview to Cadena Ser, in which he slammed Ronald Koeman for treating him unfairly at the Catalan club last season. Junior even accused the former manager of lying to him.
Barca sacked the Dutchman towards the end of October and appointed Xavi Hernández as his successor.
The Leeds player appeared as a guest on Radio Marca’s program, La Pizarra de Quintana, where he admitted he could have stayed at the Catalan club, if Koeman was sacked after last season.
“Yes [could have stayed at Barca] or at least I would have had the opportunity to speak with the new coach in question to know what idea he had or what he had in mind for me,” he said.
The former Real Betis man also detailed how he ended up joining Marcelo Bielsa’s side back in July.
“Barça’s decision had been made before the season ended because of how the year had turned out. In summer, there was going to be no change,” Junior explained.
“We had many options. Barça, luckily, did not put many problems in the way. So, I meet with Leeds, they tell me everything that the project is, everything that the club had been through in recent years. The feeling I had when I met Victor Orta was incredible. In the end, it made us choose them.”
AC Milan were keen on acquiring the fullback’s services, but Leeds director of football, Victor Orta, played a key role in helping the Premier League side land Junior.
When asked about Orta’s ‘importance’ in joining Leeds, Junior said: “90%. We had many options, I think everyone knows some of the options I had, especially one, very strong, which was Milan.
“Of course, not just because of Victor. You think about yourself, where you have options to recover what I lost at Barcelona, which was playing and enjoying football, competing and being happy.
“Because we players depend a lot on what we do on the field for the whole week to be happy at home. I decided this also because Victor told me how it was going to be.”
Junior has made 12 appearances [nine starts] in all competitions this season for Leeds.
