And after a somewhat long transfer saga stretching from the beginning of the summer, Junior Firpo has finally been announced as the new Barcelona player. The Catalans have added the young left-back as their latest addition alongside marquee signings of Antoine Griezmann and Frenkie de Jong. But what kind of a player is Junior Firpo and how can his skill set complement Barcelona’s tactics?
This tactical analysis will look to give you an in-depth profile of the player and answer those questions along the way.
Player overview
Héctor Junior Firpo Adamés or simply just known as Junior Firpo is a 22-year-old left-back who used to play his football for Real Betis in La Liga. Firpo is an electric full-back who can provide equally good returns going both forward and backward. His main attributes consist of great pace combined with dribbling abilities and an eye for a good pass.
His physique also means he is strong and good in the air, as well as solid defensively and in duels. However, despite his tendency to be a big part of his team’s link-up and build-up play, he is still a player with not much experience and a lot of room to improve.
Regardless of his passing prowess and more than decent returns, his crossing and final product in general can still leave wanting more.
Defensive style of play
Being a defender first and foremost it is essential that Firpo possesses enough quality at the back to be able to plug holes and cover for Barcelona’s main vulnerabilities out wide. Of course, being a Barcelona full-back generally means being extremely attacking-minded but the other side of the coin must also not be disregarded.
Just looking purely at his stats we can immediately see that Firpo excels in 1v1 defending and is an outstanding tackler in his own right. Just last season, he averaged 1.6 tackles per game in La Liga and has only been dribbled past 0.6 times per 90 minutes, which is a really impressive statistic in its own right.
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