Chelsea have completed the signing of Argentine midfielder Valentin Barco from Strasbourg on a seven-year deal, with the fee undisclosed. The 21-year-old becomes the club's sixth summer signing, joining Morgan Rogers, Danny Welbeck, Emmanuel Emegha, Maxence Lacroix and Marco Palestra, and will link up with the squad for the remainder of their pre-season tour of Asia, including a fixture against Juventus in Hong Kong on 5 August.

Barco came through Boca Juniors' academy before moving to Brighton in 2024 for £7.9m, but spent only a year there before joining Strasbourg the following summer after a successful loan. He featured once for Argentina at the 2026 World Cup, where they finished runners-up to Spain, and was involved in an incident with Jude Bellingham after the semi-final win over England. He is the second player to move from Strasbourg to Chelsea this summer, reflecting the clubs' shared ownership under Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, taking the number of deals between the two sides to 13 since last season.