Barcelona look ready to step up their chase of Junior Firpo and have reportedly upped their offer to €27 million in an attempt to land the Real Betis star.
Spanish publication Sport claim Barcelona have lodged in an improved offer for Junior Firpo. The La Liga champions are intent on adding a left-back to their squad and have reportedly improved their offer to €27 million, with their initial bid being rejected swiftly by Real Betis.
The report cites Estadio Deportivo as its main source, claiming that the Barcelona hierarchy have come to the conclusion that Junior Firpo is the ideal player to compete with Jordi Alba for a starting spot on the left side of the defence. Barcelona had earlier submitted a €20 million plus player bid for Firpo.
Junior Firpo has been courting interest from top European clubs for a while now. The Real Betis star enjoyed a fruitful 2018-19 campaign, wherein he was one of the first names on the team sheet. The 22-year-old has been linked with Liverpool, Manchester United and Barcelona in recent times.
Barcelona are moving closer to signing Real Betis left back Junior Firpo, reports @FabrizioRomano ? pic.twitter.com/onPUbY8cYs
— B/R Football (@brfootball) July 24, 2019
Liverpool and Manchester United are both looking for able deputies to their first-choice stars, namely Andrew Robertson and Luke Shaw, respectively. Barcelona though, are opening up the possibility of the left-back slot being up for grabs, with the intent to bring in a quality player to not just be a backup but compete for the starting spot.
Barcelona seem the ones primed to land Firpo, if Real Betis do end up selling the 22-year-old. Betis reportedly have set an asking price of €30 million, which isn’t far away from the €27 million that has been offered by Barcelona, as per the report. The Catalan giants have been linked with several other stars.
But, Firpo has the edge in the form that the 22-year-old already has La Liga experience and will not take time to adapt to the new surroundings. The Real Betis star also has age on his side and will, prospectively, be able to provide the best years of his footballing career to Barcelona.
All in all, Barcelona are not that far away from Firpo’s €30 million price tag, which seems justified in the current market conditions. We should expect a positive resolution to the transfer story.
