Leeds United refused to let Junior Firpo represent the Dominican Republic at the Olympics in the summer.
According to Mundo Deportivo, the left-back ‘regretted’ the situation having previously believed it would happen.
The Leeds man is currently with his national team, preparing for the Concacaf Nations League tie against Dominica on Tuesday.
Ahead of this clash, the 28-year-old spoke to reporters, and his comments are relayed by Mundo Deportivo. Junior Firpo has now said he tried until the end to convince the Whites to let him go to the Olympics.
“It was hard, 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 beginning of preseason because the clubs close their business in the preseason and I was one of the keys, I was telling them that for me it was going to be something unique but it wasn’t possible,” he said.
Daniel Farke has relied upon the former Barcelona man regularly this season. He’s made four starts in the Championship and one more in the EFL Cup so far, managing an assist in the process.
The Leeds fullback made his national team debut at the start of this year.
He was also asked about the absence of Getafe’s Peter González and FC Ashdod’s Luiyi de Lucas from the national squad.
When responding to that, he explained the reason for delaying his decision to represent the Dominican Republic.
“I respect everyone’s decision, in the past I didn’t think it was the best thing for my career, it wasn’t because I was waiting for a call up from Spain,” Junior Firpo explained.
