SHARE

Valentin Barco struggled for regular minutes since arriving at Brighton & Hove Albion in January.

The Premier League side allowed the left-back to join Sevilla on a loan deal in the summer window. He made five appearances for the La Liga side, and it includes three starts.

Estadio Deportivo say the Brighton loanee impressed on his Sevilla debut against Girona but hasn’t maintained the same form since then.

Last month, Diario de Sevilla stated the Argentina international wasn’t offering no solution to the Andalusian club.

Estadio now claim Sevilla manager Garcia Pimienta wasn’t pleased with the 20-year-old’s performance in the 1-1 draw against Athletic. Therefore, he dropped him for the derby win over Real Betis.

It’s claimed the South American took advantage of the international break to improve his physique, to ‘accelerate adaption’ to the Spanish football.

As well as training at the club, Barco has hired a well-known physical trainer, Fran Silva, who has already worked with Marcos Acuña, Erik Lamela, Alejo Veliz and Diego Carlos.

The report explains the Brighton man ‘has increased the intensity of his set-up with very demanding sessions’. This has helped him gain muscle mass, which will be needed to improve the defensive side of game demanded by Pimienta.

These are the special measures taken by Barco to try and cement a place at Sevilla this season. Esadtio add the fullback has also hired a nutritionist and practises yoga.

Can’t fault the effort.