Chelsea are reportedly readying a transfer pursuit of Manchester City target Valentin Barco.
Back in September, it was reported that the Manchester club are confident of securing an £8m transfer deal for the Boca Juniors left-back, beating the likes of Brighton & Hove Albion and Juventus who were also apparently interested.
Now though, another club has reportedly shown an interest in the full-back, potentially scuppering City’s chances of signing him.
Chelsea stepping up Barco interest
According to a recent report from 90 Min, Chelsea have stepped up their interest in landing a transfer deal for Barco.
At the age of 19, Barco has made 29 appearances for the Argentine club across all competitions, chipping in with one goal and three assists.
With 11 league appearances to his name in the current season, the teenager has earned himself an overall performance rating of 6.86/10 from WhoScored, making him the third-highest-rated outfield player currently at Boca.
Across his 11 appearances, the defender has racked up the joint-third-highest number of carries into the penalty area, showing how much of an attack-minded full-back he is.
Described as an “amazing talent” by talent scout Jacek Kulig, Barco has certainly shown in his performances why he has the likes of City, and now Chelsea, looking at him.
Taking into account how the west London club have shown in recent transfer windows that they are keen on adding as much young talent to their ranks as possible and aren’t against spending significant amounts of money to do so, we feel that they could well be a threat to City’s chances of signing the Boca youngster.
Moving forward, if City are keen to land a deal for Barco in January, they may have to ramp up their intensity to do so and convince the player that a move to the Etihad Stadium would be the best next step for his career.
