Leeds United have some big decisions to make in the coming months when it comes to player contracts.
Between now and the summer of 2026, Leeds have a number of key first team players coming to the end of their deals and so decisions will need to be made one way or another.
Junior Firpo and Sam Byram are the only two members of the squad out of contract next summer, and at this stage, there has been no clarity on what will happen with either of them.
The following summer, Patrick Bamford, Dan James, Illan Meslier and Karl Darlow are all at risk of leaving on free transfers.
If Leeds were to get promoted, they could quite easily upgrade on all four of those players. However, the uncertainty of what division they will be in makes it difficult to know what to do right now.
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Junior Firpo current Leeds contract state of play
From that group of six players, Firpo is arguably the one playing the most important role under Daniel Farke right now.
James and Meslier are both also regulars, though the former faces significantly more competition for a starting spot than what Firpo does, while the latter is arguably Leeds’ biggest weak link after his error at Sunderland.
However, after Firpo’s past struggles in the Premier League, it makes it difficult to know whether to tempt him into committing now, while they are in the Championship.
At the same time, Firpo has fielded interest from former club Real Betis in each of the last two windows, and so if Leeds were to stay down, he may not want to sign a contract for another season in the second tier.
As such, transfer expert Graeme Bailey has shared an exclusive update on the current state of play regarding Firpo’s contract to LeedsUnited.News.
Bailey says he ‘would be surprised’ if £13m man Firpo does sign a new deal at Elland Road, though it will massively depend on whether Leeds win promotion.
He said: “I would be surprised personally [if he signed a new deal]. But it will depend on what division Leeds are in, it really does. I think he has been okay for Leeds, but it will depend on whether they go up or not.
“If Leeds don’t go up, he will probably be looking at going to the top-flight himself won’t he to be fair to him. We’ll see on that one, the division will dictate everything really.”
Firpo criticised by Chris Sutton after Leeds draw
Having been just seconds away from being Leeds’ match-winner at Sunderland last Friday, Firpo came in for a huge amount of criticism after the match.
With Meslier’s mistake going down as his own goal, Firpo was seen storming down the tunnel at full-time after the 2-2 draw.
However, his reaction has not gone down too well from some pundits, including Chris Sutton, who was very critical of the Leeds defender.
He said: “Junior Firpo was really unhappy and stormed down the tunnel. Not a good teammate. I didn’t realise Firpo is [Paolo] Maldini. I’ve seen him make plenty of mistakes. I would’ve given the goalkeeper a hug.”
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