Barcelona: 5 interesting facts about the Catalans' newest signing Junior Firpo

#4 First player born in the Dominican Republic to play for Barcelona

Real Betis Balompie v Valencia - Copa del Rey Semi-Final

Earlier in his career, Junior Firpo became the first Dominican-born player to feature in LaLiga when he made his Real Betis debut.

There is, however, a unique twist to this tale, as Firpo is only the fourth Dominican to play in LaLiga.

However, the previous three; Heinz Barmettler (Real Valladolid, 2013-2014), Tano Bonnin ( Osasuna, 2016-2017) and Mariano Diaz (Real Madrid) were not born in the country, giving Firpo his place in history.

#5 He was very close to giving up on football before Real Betis came calling

He almost quit football before signing for Real Betis

Junior Firpo was very much a slow starter, and admitted to Marca that playing in the lower leagues of Spain at the age of 18 while watching players his age making their professional debuts on TV was depressing.

He even admitted to telling his girlfriend that if no academy signed him at the end of the 2015 season, he would hang up his boots. Real Betis came calling on the last day of the season and four years later, he is on the verge of making history with Barcelona.

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Elvis is an avid football fan who has followed the sport dedicatedly for over 15 years.

His passion lies with the Super Eagles of Nigeria, while his all-time favorite player is Raul Gonzalez.

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Edited by Arvind Sriram