Junior Firpo delighted for Leeds United ‘baller’ after role in win against Everton

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There were a handful of debuts for Leeds United on Monday night and even more Premier League debuts in total as Daniel Farke’s side secured a 1-0 win over Everton.

Lucas Perri, Gabriel Gudmundsson, and Anton Stach all earned their first Leeds United starts and made their debuts in the Premier League. Lukas Nmecha and Sean Longstaff also made their Leeds debuts.

In terms of first appearances in the Premier League alongside Gudmundsson, Stach and Perri, there were top-flight debuts for Ao Tanaka, Joel Piroe and Ilia Gruev with the latter coming off the bench for Leeds.

There was controversy, as seems to be the way with Leeds – but for once, the Whites benefitted. Nmecha scored a penalty after James Tarkowski’s handball and Daniel Farke won his 50th Premier League outing.

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Junior Firpo praises Leeds star as Betis man watches from afar

We could easily have been watching Junior Firpo bombing up and down the left flank on Monday, but it was Sweden international Gudmundsson instead. Actually, the stats say Gudmundsson was Leeds’ best.

Coincidentally, Firpo was an unused substitute for Betis in their first La Liga game of the season on the same night, a 1-1 draw with Elche. Following Leeds’ win, Firpo praised one Leeds player as a “baller”.

Gruev came on for the final 15 minutes after Ethan Ampadu picked up a knock early in the second half. Having made his Premier League debut, Gruev posted on Instagram (above) and Firpo responded.

Daniel Farke shows Ilia Gruev loyalty despite £35m investment

Gruev may have been thinking this summer that he would struggle to get game time for Leeds after the club invested a total of £34.9m on Stach and Longstaff. It means Leeds now have five central midfielders.

However, Farke has reverted to a 4-3-3 from 4-2-3-1, removing the 10 role which sees Brenden Aaronson drop to the bench, and Leeds look more solid in the middle. Gruev has been a regular in pre-season.

His outing on Monday, even if only from the 78th minute, will give Gruev confidence that he has a role to play this season. Especially, if Ampadu is sidelined from the knock he picked up during the 1-0 victory.