A sledgehammer would have been more subtle than Marcelo Neveleff’s recent photograph with Junior Firpo. The Dominican Republic head coach was on a recruitment drive around Europe at the start of the month and the offensive with Firpo could not have been more charming.
Firpo was born in the Caribbean nation’s capital, Santo Domingo, in 1996, but moved to Malaga in Spain when he was six-years-old. The left-back’s career speaks for itself and so too does the Dominican Republic’s standing in the sport.
As a former Real Betis and Barcelona defender currently playing in the world’s foremost domestic competition, Firpo would be on another level or three from anyone else who currently plays for his birth nation. It would be a major coup for Neveleff to talk Firpo back into the arms of his countrymen, but still unrealistic as of last week.
