Player says Brighton pushed forward to sign him – He’s keen on January move too

Brighton & Hove Albion have agreed a deal with Boca Juniors for Valentín Barco’s transfer and only the official announcement seems to be missing now.

At the weekend, the Argentine club’s board member, Raul Cascini, made it clear that he’s disappointed with the 19-year-old’s impending exit.

Earlier claims had stated Brighton’s multiple bids were rejected by Boca Juniors, forcing them to then activate his €10m release clause.

This is now backed up by the player himself during an interview with ESPN’s SportsCenter, when explaining the background on his impending exit from Boca Juniors.

The youngster came up through the ranks of the South American club’s youth system and made his way into the first team in 2021. He featured regularly last year, making 35 appearances in all competitions, managing a goal and four assists in the process.

Barco’s deal at Boca Juniors club lasts until December 2024 and he was clear that he had no intention of leaving them as a free agent.

On his decision to trigger the release clause, he said: “I had the dream of playing in Boca’s first team, I stayed again in the middle of the Libertadores, they wanted to execute the clause and I told my representative no.

“Now they came back and I think the best thing to do is to continue growing, everyone’s dream is to play in Europe. I wanted to leave a percentage to Boca, we negotiated at all times, since there was no agreement, we decided to execute the clause.

“I always told my representative from the beginning that I didn’t want to execute the clause. Boca was the club that gave me everything from the beginning, I’m very grateful. By not reaching an agreement and on my part thinking that the best thing is to emigrate to continue growing, we decided that.”

With regards to the failed negotiations with Boca Juniors, Barco explained: “They had time to present a formal offer, I thought they were going to present it at that meeting and they said that I had to present it.

“We said we were going to answer, we called for three days in a row and they didn’t answer the phone, I was surprised, since if ‘You are interested, at least you answer the phone’. Afterwards the offer went from club to club, Brighton presented it, not my agent.”

On January 11th, TyC Sports reported Barco completed his medical tests with the Premier League side. It was also stated he will arrive at The Amex in February, after the pre-Olympic tournament with Argentina U23.