Leeds United man named in final Olympic squad list despite Whites' tournament stance — YEP 5/7/24
By Graham Smyth
Junior Firpo has received a final Olympics call.
Leeds United's Junior Firpo has been named in the Dominican
Republic's final squad list for the Olympics, despite his club's stance on
tournament involvement.
The Whites made their position clear when it was suggested
that Mateo Joseph was in line for a call up by Spain for the tournament, which
begins in Paris on Wednesday July 24 and concludes at the Parc de Princes on
Saturday August 10 - the same day that Leeds' Championship campaign kicks off.
Joseph had his nationality change from England to Spain
approved by the International Olympic Committee as Spain explored the
possibility of selecting him, before their squad list was confirmed without his
presence.
Involvement in the Olympics would deny Daniel Farke the
chance to have a player for almost all of the pre-season training camp in
Germany, friendly games and the final preparation for the season. Leeds' view
has been the same as a number of other European clubs, that because The
Olympics is not part of the official FIFA calendar they are under no obligation
to release players for the competition.
Dominican Republic boss Ibai Gomez has named Firpo in his
final list after the left-back made a switch of allegiance from Spain back to
the country of his birth and made his senior international debut earlier this
year.
To date he has won four international caps but the
likelihood of him wearing his country's colours in The Olympics appears slim.
Leeds' options at left-back currently consist of Sam Byram and Firpo, who both
had to contend with injury issues last season but ultimately shared the
responsibility in that position for the vast majority of the 2023/24 season.
Speaking after confirming Spain's initial squad list, Santi
Denia admitted it had been a difficult process due to a number of factors,
including the withholding of players by foreign clubs, but he refrained from
naming those who had not been given permission.
He said: “It is the most difficult list we have made due to
all the conditions we have had. Here are the ones that are available. The
conditions are the age, number of players, of which we will have to discard
four and then the foreign clubs that do not release players. It’s not a FIFA
window so if foreign clubs don’t consider it beneficial then they won’t give
you the players. In these months we have done a great job to make the filter.
We started working with 180 players.”