Owen Hargreaves thinks Junior Firpo could have cost Leeds United their top-flight status.
In action last weekend against Eddie Howe’s high-flying Magpies, Leeds United were tasked with pulling off a major upset, and although they took an early lead through Luke Ayling, the Whites failed to hold onto their lead and ended up drawing the game 2-2.
Although Sam Allardyce would have probably snapped your hand off at a point pre-kick-off, the fact Patrick Bamford missed a spot kick to make it 2-0 will still be causing the veteran manager nightmares.
Firpo was arguably the worst player on the pitch though. Not only did the full-back concede an awful penalty after clearly handling the ball inside his own box, the Dominican Republic international was then sent off in injury time for a poorly timed tackle.
And speaking after the game, Hargreaves believes the 26-year-old’s disastrous performance could very well cost his side any hopes of staying in the Premier League, which would equate to around £150m in lost revenue.
“He won the penalty, you see this a lot – player put their arms up in unnatural positions,” the former midfielder said.
“You can’t do that. It could be a £150m handball. Can’t make mistakes like that. Big Sam is all about minimalising mistakes.”