If Olé on Tuesday are to be believed, Brighton & Hove Albion are getting very close to signing Valentín Barco from Boca Juniors.
The Argentine newspaper couldn’t make it any clearer in their print edition, as they explain the player ‘activates the €10m clause’ in his contract.
This means he ‘leaves’ for Brighton, which everyone was expecting, putting an end to what they call a ‘contentious situation’.
While a more pleasant ending would have been preferred, Boca Juniors were sorely aware that it would take a lot for them to get the same amount of money up front through a negotiation with the Seagulls.
We covered the details of what each operation would mean for the Argentine side, but the short version is that the clause being triggered means Brighton have to pay any other taxes on top of the fee instead of Boca.
On top that, the Seagulls made it clear in each of their email offers that they would pay the remaining 50% of the transfer in February 2025, which Boca didn’t want.
In short, the only option for Brighton to get their man straight away was to trigger his release clause, effectively giving their Argentine counterparts all the money in one go.
