CalcioMercato have provided some fresh insight into Leeds United's attempts to sign Barcelona's Junior Firpo. 

What's the latest Leeds United transfer news? 

Yesterday, Spanish outlet Sport revealed the Yorkshire club were closing in on a deal to bring the 24-year-old to Elland Road. 

Now, the aforementioned Italian outlet have claimed that Leeds made the decisive move to sign him ahead of AC Milan by offering the €15m (which roughly equates to £12.88m) up front, rather than on a loan-to-buy basis. 

With a deal seemingly edging closer, the Dominican-born former Spanish U21 international could head for his medical next week. 

How important is it that Leeds sign a left-back? 

Last month, The Sun's Alan Nixon revealed on Twitter that bringing in a new option at left-back was the club's transfer priority this summer amid doubts about the future of Ezgjan Alioski. 

The North Macedonian international will technically see his contract expire tomorrow though is thought to have recently sat down with director of football Victor Orta with his future still up in the air. 

How does Firpo compare with Alioski?

Comparing Firpo's stats during the 2019/20 campaign with Allioski's in 2020/21 seems fair, given the former was barely involved at Barcelona last time out, playing in only seven league games.  

According to WhoScored data, the former Real Betis man beat the Leeds star for interceptions per game (1 to 0.6) and was also dribbled past on fewer occasions (0.4 to 1.2) over the same period. Still, Alioski beat him in almost every attacking metric including goals, assists, shots and key passes. 

Obviously, comparing the two playing styles is not an exact science, although it'd be fair to say that Allisoki has shown more as a threat pushing up the left-hand side of late. 

What has Sid Lowe said about Firpo? 

Writing in The Guardian in October 2020, Spanish football expert Sid Lowe did suggest Barcelona had wasted their money on Firpo. 

"Junior Firpo and Martin Braithwaite cost €18m each," he wrote. 

"Who would pay that now?"

Who else could Leeds sign this summer?

Orta has previously spoken about his desire to wrap up the club's transfer business by the end of June amid links with the likes of young Birmingham City striker Amari Miller and prodigious Bradford City goalkeeper Darryl Ombang. 

Celtic's young defender Leo Hjelde has also been linked as Leeds seemingly look to plan for a promising future having established themselves in the top tier once again. 

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