Leeds United head coach Marcelo Bielsa believes Junior Firpo’s six-week injury lay-off has halted the momentum he had started to build.
Firpo has endured a tough start to his career at the Whites but had started to show signs he was approaching his best level during the 1-0 win over Watford.
However, the 25-year-old then picked up an injury during the October international break, which saw him miss the following four league matches.
He then made his return to the side from the bench in the recent 2-1 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur, before being handed a start in Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion.
Firpo, though, had arguably his toughest outing yet against the Seagulls, as he was given a torrid time by Brighton wingback Tariq Lamptey, before being substituted at half time to avoid the risk of him picking up a second yellow card.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference for Tuesday’s game against Crystal Palace, Bielsa admitted that the summer signing from Barcelona struggled at the Amex Stadium but is hopeful that as he gets more minutes under his belt, he will begin to rediscover his best form.
He said: "Junior is a player that is growing as he puts minutes together, his performances have been improving until he had an interruption due to injury.
"Now he's progressively recovering his best form as it happened like so at the beginning of the season. The last game was a difficult game for us down the right sector of the opponent, he suffered a caution early on and that conditions the player with the freedom he has to go and win the ball, and the coordination down the left didn't give him the backup he would usually have."
