It was a very quiet day on the Albion transfer grapevine with absolutely nothing new, with just a little bit extra on a story already covered.
Valentin Barco
Estadio Deportivo report that Real Betis join Sevilla in having an interest in Albion’s most-recent arrival Valentin Barco. Colo has seen very little game time since his arrival from Boca Juniors, with Roberto De Zerbi passing commenting: “We knew before the transfer market, one player from another country. It is very tough for him, and we have to make him understand everything.”
An interesting side-story to the interest from Betis is Albion’s reported reciprocal interest in Juan Miranda who is currently excelling at left-back for Los Verdiblancos.
It still seems unlikely that Albion would have already decided to give Barco the chance to pick up match minutes elsewhere. A full pre-season, working with the Albion squad and Roberto De Zerbi – hopefully – would allow for a more rounded assessment of where Barco is.
But if a loan is to be Barco’s next step, Estadio Deportivo state that preference would be given to a Premier League or Championship side, which would allow Barco to both become accustomed to the cut and thrust of English football, as well as improve his English more quickly than would be the case in a Spanish-speaking setting.
We’ll be watching with interest Barco’s involvement, or otherwise, in Albion’s remaining fixtures this season.
Image courtesy of Reuters
