Barcelona exposure brings new army of fans to Leeds United as 17-million followed Instagram ace hails Junior Firpo's Whites move

Dominican Republic-born left back Firpo has joined the Whites on a four-year deal and the 24-year-old took to his social media pages to declare his excitement at the move.

Former Spain under-21s international Firpo has 708,000 followers on Instagram - almost as many as Leeds United s official account itself which has 751,000.

Shortly after signing for Leeds, Firpo posted a photograph of himself in Whites training gear beside the club honours board accompanied with United's motto of 'Marching On Together.'

The post received close to 100,000 likes and over 1,000 comments, including from Netherlands international Frenkie de Jong who represented his country at this summer's Euros and started all four games and has 8.9 million followers on 'Insta'.

De Jong, of Barcelona, was a team mate of Firpo's and replied with a flexed muscle emoji as part of a variety of posts from footballing stars.

Sevilla's former Barcelona and Croatian international midfielder Ivan Rakitic who has a whopping 17.1 million followers on Instagram replied with "bien nino, enhorabuena" or "well boy, congratulations" whilst highly rated Barcelona youngster Ilaix Moriba also took to Instagram.

The 18-year-old posted "suerte mio personal" or "my best of luck" and the good wishes are likely to continue over the next few days to a player who arrives at Leeds with nearly twice as many Instagram followers than United's record signing and new teammate Rodrigo.

Real Betis centre-back and Spanish international Marc Barta, who has 6.8 million followers on Instagram, replied with "mucha suerte pantera dale duro" or "good luck partner hit it hard" - and Firpo is already setting his sights on European qualification with the Whites.

https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/sport/football/leeds-united/yorkshire-evening-post-launch-leeds-united-only-digital-subscription-ahead-premier-league-campaign-2967964

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Thank you Laura Collins