Brighton and Hove Albion are ‘willing to pay’ the $10m release clause in Valentín Barco’s contract to sign him from Boca Juniors but have instead bid for him as a ‘gesture’ of goodwill.
That’s according to Ole, who cover Brighton’s bid for the player today after reports earlier today that they’d made a $10m bid for the youngster.
The newspaper backs up claims from earlier today that Brighton have offered $10m for Barco, a player they’ve been chasing since the summer.
They make it clear that the $10m bid, which is the value of his release clause, is not actually an activation of that clause but instead a bid that includes a percentage of the player’s rights being left in Boca’s control. Earlier reports had that at 10%.
According to Ole’s information, this bid, an actual transfer offer rather than a simple activation of his clause, is a ‘gesture’ from the Premier League side, who are more than capable of taking him by activating the clause but seem to want to maintain a good relationship with the Argentine club.
They explain that the bid has not come as a surprise to Boca, who had Barco down as one of the men to sell in the January transfer window anyway given Premier League sides chased him in the summer.
Their plan was to get him to sign a new, long-term contract and even given him a salary that would make him one of the best paid at the club.
They were planning to carry that out next week and include an increase in his release clause from $10m to $15m.
But the belief is Brighton could move before then and simply activate his current clause and stop that from happening if their current bid is not accepted.
They seem keen to avoid doing that and taking the tougher route to get Barco, instead hoping for an agreement to be reached that leaves everyone happy.
