Boca Juniors director makes Valentin Barco transfer admission ahead of Brighton move

Albion are set to seal the £8 million deal of the talented 19-year-old from the Argentinian side, despite their efforts to hold onto the versatile teenager.

The Seagulls are understood to have agreed to meet the Argentine’s release clause but board member Raul Cascini hinted the Buenos Aires outfit are not best pleased to see the youngster leave them for the Premier League team.

Quoted by newspaper Ole and relayed via Sport Witness, Cascini said: “About Valentin is clear and everyone knows it. We wanted to renew him at the time for four years. He and his agent didn’t want to, they signed for one year only on the condition of the clause, which everyone knows.

"But they also have to know that the clause is executed by the player. This was clearly done and signed by the player. We have no choice but to do what happened, that he signed it. We are happy, he is the only player who left and we are happy with the squad we have.”

Barco, who can play as a full-back, a wing-back, a winger, and in midfield, is set to join Brighton this week after setting his sights on the English top-flight.

Albion had reportedly made an offer to sign the Argentina under-23 international but that was rejected by Boca and that’s when the release clause came into play.

“As soon as we started training we wanted to renew his contract, we sat down with him and his agent and they told us that they’d get back to us in two days and they came with the signing of the clause. That’s how it went. We didn’t lie, we went the right way. We offered him four years,” Cascini added.

"We wanted Valentín to keep growing in our club, we wanted him to keep learning. But well, you have to be thankful sometimes in life, but things happened the way they happened.”