Ever since Valentin Barco triggered the release clause in his contract in order to be able to move to Brighton & Hove Albion in January, Juan Roman Riquelme has constantly been talking about the deal.
He is very unhappy about how his former starlet’s move to the Seagulls, and the former Argentina international’s discourse continued this week.
It’s explained by TNT Sports that Brighton’s Barco activated his release clause ‘after a conflict’ with Boca Juniors, which led to anger from both the club’s fans and directors.
Riquelme told D Sports: “We wanted to renew his contract for a while. We were convinced that the boy was growing and that he had many things t learn. We still don’t know if he’s a full-back or a winger.”
This seemed to have pleased Riquelme, who believes he was proven right by the Seagulls manager.
He added: “When we said that he had to keep growing, we had to put with some people saying we were wrong. Now the Brighton manager says so and that’s fine. That’s what happens.”
The Boca president then sent an indirect snipe to Barco by comparing how Alan Varela went about his transfer to Porto as the midfielder is being linked with a big transfer away from Portugal.
He added: “It will be welcome for the boy, he is a phenomenon as a person and he did it the way he should as a footballer: he played more than 100 games in his youth club, won five titles, he went to Europe, to a league that is good that gives him time to continue growing.
“It’s not the same as Italy or Spain. Portugal gives you time. You can see that he is enjoying himself and is happy.”
