Valentin Barco: Who is Brighton's newest star?

South American football journalist Tim Vickery provides expert insight on Valentin Barco following the Argentinian's move to Brighton & Hove Albion.

Player analysis - Valentin Barco

The wind is in the sails of Barco as he crosses the Atlantic to join Brighton. Before making the trip, he played a key role in Argentina qualifying for the football tournament at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

The 19-year-old had an eventful time in the qualifying tournament, the South American Under-23 Championships, staged in Venezuela. In the final phase four teams were left to compete for the two Olympic spots. 

In the first game against the hosts, Barco was sent off for throwing a ball at the back of an opponent’s head.

There was consternation in the Argentina ranks that he might pick up a two-game suspension and miss the rest of the tournament. Instead, the ban was a single game and he was back for the decisive match, last Sunday’s clash with Brazil. 

And it was just as well that he was available. Argentina had to win, but going into the last 20 minutes, the game remained goalless. Barco was enduring a frustrating afternoon. 

The sticky pitch was not to his liking, and he struggled to find the right weight on his crosses. But then he came up with the game’s one true moment of top quality - a superbly struck cross from deep on the left that curled round the Brazil defence and invited the header from big centre-forward Luciano Gondou.

Olympic hopes

It was the goal that ended Brazil’s hopes of a third consecutive Olympic gold, gives rise to hopes in Argentina that in Paris they can repeat the golds they won in 2004 and 2008, perhaps with the presence of Lionel Messi - and also a moment that highlights why Brighton have invested in the youngster who provided the assist.

The precision and power of that left-foot helps explain why Barco emerged as one of the most exciting talents in South American football in the second half of last year.

There is, to be fair, not a great deal to go on. He has little more than 30 first-team games to his name and has spent more than half of his life at Boca Juniors.

Considered something of a child prodigy, he was thrown into the first team of the Buenos Aires giants just before his 17th birthday in 2021.

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Starring at Boca

But after a brief run, he had to wait two years for another chance in the Boca first team.

This time there was no keeping him out, and, amid a short break for injury, he soon became one of the most important members of the side that made it through to November’s final of the Copa Libertadores, South America’s Champions League, where Boca fell to Brazilian side Fluminense.

Within a few short months, then, the Boca junior was already taking on senior responsibilities. The little redheaded figure ("el Colo," his nickname, is short for "colorado" - a standard term for those with ginger hair) quickly established himself as a vital part of the Boca attack. 

He could run incisively with the ball, his left foot could generate surprising power from open play or from set-pieces, and he could drift in from the left flank and link up intelligently with former Manchester United forward Edinson Cavani (below right).

A striker at the start of his junior career, Barco had since been converted into a left-back. Last year, though, Boca came to the conclusion that it was best to free him to star as a left-sided midfielder, able to play from the flank rather than on it.

In the recent South American Under-23 competition, coach Javier Mascherano did use him ostensibly as a left-back - but with compete licence to push forward and roam, and with a midfielder covering the space behind him.

The question of where to use Barco becomes, of course, a challenge for Brighton. It is one the south coast club seem well equipped to handle.

They have an excellent recent track record at bringing over young talent straight from South America, at helping the youngsters settle in off the pitch and finding a way to get the most out of them on it.

Mac Allister example

In Barco’s mind there is the example of another redhead who came over from Boca Juniors, Alexis Mac Allister.

He was widely seen as a conventional No 10 in Argentina and Brighton understood that he lacked the speed or presence to stand out in a zone of the field where the marking is at its tightest. 

Using Mac Allister in a deep-lying role proved a triumph for the club and helped Mac Allister claim a FIFA World Cup 2022 winner’s medal, as well as a big money move to Liverpool.

Barco offers a different challenge. It is hard to imagine him moving backwards on the field. Few would see him as a candidate for an orthodox Premier League left-back. He would suffer physically and would not be able to show the best of his game. 

Neither is he a standard winger, not least because he has the ability and the footballing nous to operate in reduced spaces. Finding the right position for Barco is a task for Roberto De Zerbi, but it is a challenge that Barco has signed up for.

This is the move that he wanted. When there was interest in the middle of last year, after Barco had figured in the Under-20 World Cup, Cavani apparently turned into his trusted advisor, urging him to stay a while longer and try to win the Libertadores. 

But Boca have not even qualified for this year’s version of the competition, and, a young man in a hurry, Barco was keen to get away and join a Premier League club with a deserved reputation for excellence in building South American careers.

His desire for a move caused discord with Boca president and former great Juan Roman Riquelme, but Barco forced the move through while his buyout clause was reportedly mere $10 million, with suggestions that it would have gone up to $14 million a few days later.

As part of the deal, Brighton allowed their new purchase to go and play for his country in the Under-23 tournament 

Make way for "el Colo" because Valentin Barco has landed on the south coast.