Junior Firpo’s four-year stint at Leeds United has come to an end, and the left-back has been replaced directly with the £10m addition of Sweden international Gabriel Gudmundsson.
Leeds fans will have been encouraged by the 26-year-old’s performances for Lille over the last few years and take comfort in that he has 15 Sweden caps, with a £10m fee seen as a bargain for Gudmundsson.
But Rasmus Kristensen’s £10m move to Elland Road looked similarly encouraging, and Leeds fans will be wary of their new full-back until he proves himself to be a solid acquisition in a Leeds shirt next season.
However, one key area immediately shows that Leeds have brought in a massive improvement at left-back when it comes to comparing Gudmundsson and Firpo, who endured an up-and-down Leeds spell.
Junior Firpo ahead of Leeds clash against Sheffield Wednesday.
Photo by Lewis Storey/Getty Images
Junior Firpo’s Leeds stats in numbers show alarming availability
When Firpo arrived from Barcelona, many saw The Dominican Republic star as a bit of a coup. Managing to beat other clubs to his signature, Leeds signed a player that had played regularly for Barcelona.
But the intensity of the Premier League and Leeds’ position in the top tier brought out Firpo’s weakness, his one-on-one defending. His first two and a half years were also blighted by injury at Elland Road.
During his Leeds stint, Firpo played 119 times – but in the four years he spent at Leeds, The Whites have played 186 times. That means he was absent for a whopping 67 games, available for just 64% of games.
Leeds games 2021-2025 Firpo games Possible minutes Minutes played In Matchday squad Starts % of games played (sub or start) % of possible minutes played
186 119 16740 8859 135 98/119 64.0% 52.3
Gabriel Gudmundsson a stark contrast to Junior Firpo at Lille
Gabriel Gudmundsson in action for Lille against PSG.
Photo by Jean Catuffe/Getty Images
If Firpo could not even manage to be available for two thirds of the matches during his Leeds stint, then it is a stark contrast with Gudmundsson. Like Firpo, Gudmundsson moved to Lille in the summer of 2021.
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In that time, Gudmundsson played 18 more matches than Firpo at club level, totalling 137 in Lille colours. During that four-year stint, Lille played 188 times and most of the time, Gudmundsson was simply rested.
Lille games 2021-2025 Gudmundsson games Possible minutes Minutes played In Matchday squad Starts % of games played (sub or start) % of possible minutes played
188 137 16920 7467 165 83/137 72.9% 44.1
His last injury came in February 2023, allowing him to clock up 83 appearances for Lille in their last two seasons in which they have played 100 games. Immediately, Leeds have a big improvement at left-back.
The only anomaly when comparing the two graphs is that when fit, Firpo often started. Gudmundsson’s initial couple of seasons at Lille saw him benched and the Swede had to fight to become first choice.
Simply because, Gudmundsson has proved he is far less prone to injury than Firpo was. Whether the intensity of the Premier League is the reason for that, remains to be seen. But the stats do tell a story.