Despite the feeling that Manchester City have signed all of the good talent in South America of late, you’ll be shocked to find out they are still after more.
The latest in the long list of youngsters picked up by the Etihad side and then sent around the world on loan to their various affiliates continues to grow is Valentín Barco.
Currently at Boca Juniors in Argentina, the young left-back already has three first-team appearances to his name with the renowned side, which has apparently been enough to catch Manchester City’s attention.
The news comes from TuttoMercatoWeb, who explain he has a $10m clause in his contract valid until May 2022, at which point it goes up to $14m.
According to the Italian outlet, Boca are reportedly ‘ready to negotiate the deal’, but will want, as they did with Rodrigo Bentancur, ‘a clause on a future resale’.
Which one isn’t said, but perhaps Italy would make sense, seeing as this story comes from there.
Either way, this wouldn’t concern the Premier League, since ‘the recent restrictions have led the English clubs to be unable to deal with minors outside the English borders’, meaning that with his 18th birthday coming in July, he wouldn’t be able to sign before then.
They also need to work out if Barco ‘will have the points to be able to obtain the work permit’, with TMW describing that outcome as ‘difficult’ to reach, while Pep Guardiola’s side ‘could open the request for ‘special talent’ to be submitted to the FA board’.
Should all that fail, however, there’s also the possibility of him signing for another club in the City Football Group, namely Girona or Troyes, and then developing there before being sent to Manchester City at a later date.
