Chelsea have signed former Brighton and Hove Albion midfielder and Argentina international Valentin Barco from Strasbourg on a seven-year deal.
The 22-year-old joined Brighton from Boca Juniors in January 2024 in a deal reported to be worth about £8 million.
By the end of the season he had played seven games for Brighton, including six Premier League matches.
He went out on loan to Sevilla then Strasbourg before signing for the French club in July last year in a deal reported to be worth about £8.5 million.
Former Albion player Liam Rosenior added Barco to his young Strasbourg side and they finished seventh in Ligue 1, qualifying for the Conference League. In all, Barco made 53 appearances for the French club.
His switch from Strasbourg to sister club Chelsea, in a deal valued at about £30 million to £35 million, makes him the seventh arrival of new manager Xabi Alonso’s tenure.
Barco, who started out as a striker, has proved versatile and can be used in central midfield as well as his regular left-back position.
He was part of the Argentina squad that finished as runners-up at the World Cup last month, winning his fifth cap in the 3-1 group stage win over Jordan. He came on as a sub with 20 minutes to play.
In the semi-final, he was involved in a heated exchange with England’s Jude Bellingham at the end of Argentina’s 2-1 win in Atlanta.
Bellingham appeared to clip or slap Barco on the back of the head after the unused sub had earlier run on to the pitch to celebrate after Enzo Fernandez equalised.
Barco is known as Colo or El Colo – a common nickname in Latin America for people with red or ginger hair – with colo being short for colorado, meaning ruddy or reddish.
He is expected to join up shortly with his new team-mates on their tour of Australia and Hong Kong.
His new club have had a busy summer in the transfer market, finalising the signing of veteran striker Danny Welbeck from Brighton yesterday.
Chelsea have also recruited Maxence Lacroix from Crystal Palace and Morgan Rogers from Aston Villa as well as Marco Palestra (Atalanta), Emmanuel Emegha (Strasbourg) and Geovany Quenda (Sporting Lisbon).
