Brighton and Hove Albion have “returned to the fray” for Argentinian youngster Valentín Barco and “accelerated” their efforts to secure his signature.
That’s according to journalist Augusto Cesar, who says talks are already underway between Brighton and the player’s representatives over a potential deal.
Barco is one of the rising stars of Argentine football after starring for Boca Juniors over the last year or so.
His performances have earned him increasing attention from the Premier League, where Brighton are long-term admirers and Manchester City are also believed to be keeping an eye on him.
Indeed, Brighton tried hard to secure a deal earlier this year and add Barco to the ever expanding list of young talent they’ve secured from South America to develop for the future.
That deal never ended up taking place but their interest has not gone away and the belief has consistently been that they would return with a second effort at some point.
It seems they have now done so and are pushing ahead in an attempt to get the player signed ahead of the competition.
“I can confirm that a meeting and talks took place again yesterday and Brighton accelerated to take Valentin Barco again,” he said.
“They are willing to pay his clause. At the moment, Brighton and the people who manage the player are negotiating the contract, which would be for five years.
“There are two paths that could take him to Brighton, who have returned with the same offer from the middle of this year. That offer is for a figure similar to his clause that leaves a percentage of his rights with Boca Juniors.
“Boca need to respond to that. In the summer it was Barco who stopped everything, although Boca had not accepted Brighton’s offer and Brighton had responded by saying ‘let’s do things faster’ and would have paid his €10m clause and take him, as I understand.
“Either way the news is that Brighton have returned to the fray for Barco.”
