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Published January 31, 2025 7:55pm Updated January 31, 2025 7:55pm
Brighton defender Valentin Barco is set to join French side Strasbourg, according to reports.
The Seagulls completed a $10 million (£7.8m) deal to sign Barco from Boca Juniors a year ago.
During his time in Argentina, Barco had been tracked by several Premier League clubs including Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea.
However, the 20-year-old has struggled to make an impact in his first few months at Brighton and was allowed to join Sevilla on loan last August.
Since moving to Spain, Barco has again struggled for playing time, starting just three games in La Liga so far this season.
Sevilla have been looking to return Barco to Brighton but Fabrizio Romano reports that the Argentine has now agreed to join Strasbourg, which is part of the BlueCo ownership alongside Chelsea.
It’s claimed that an initial loan deal for Barco has been agreed, with Strasbourg paying €10 million to make the transfer from Brighton permanent in the summer transfer window.
Brighton have also secured a 10 per cent sell-on clause if Barco were to move on. The left-back is due to undergo a medical in London on Saturday before travelling to France on Sunday to link up with his new club.
Speaking on Friday, Brighton head coach, Fabian Hurzeler, made it clear that Barco would not be returning to his side.
‘I think at the moment here it’s not the right environment for him,’ Hurzeler said.
Asked if he had monitored his progress at Sevilla, Hurzeler said: ‘We follow every loan player, we follow his development, we have loan managers who are taking care of the loan players and of course also from my side I’m always interested in how the loan players are doing.
‘I worked with them, it was not that long in the pre-season but I worked with them so you build a relationship to them so of course I follow the development and I think it’s also part of my job to do this.’
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