Esequiel Omar Barco (born 29 March 1999) is an Argentine professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As #Cent ...

and winger for

Argentine Primera División The Primera División (; en, "First Division"), known officialy as Liga Profesional de Fútbol, or Torneo Binance for sponsorship reasons, is a professional football league in Argentina, organised by the Argentine Football Association (AFA). Th ...

club River Plate, on loan from

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

club

Atlanta United Atlanta United FC, commonly known as Atlanta United, is an American professional soccer club based in Atlanta that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference. Founded in 2014, Atlanta United began pl ...

. Born in

Villa Gobernador Gálvez Villa Gobernador Gálvez is a city in the provinces of Argentina, province of Santa Fe Province, Santa Fe, Argentina, located on the western ravine of the Paraná River, within the metropolitan area of Greater Rosario. It had 74,509 inhabitants per ...

, Barco began his career with Independiente. He was promoted to the first team and made his debut during the 2016–17 season. Barco played two seasons with Independiente before signing with American side

in 2018. At the international level, Barco has represented Argentina at the under-20's.

Club career

Independiente

Born in

, Santa Fe, Barco joined Independiente's youth setup in 2015 from AA Jorge Bernardo Griffa. Promoted to the first team by manager

Gabriel Milito Gabriel Alejandro Milito (born 7 September 1980) is an Argentine former footballer who played as a central defender, currently the manager of Argentinos Juniors. He spent most of his professional career in Spain, representing Zaragoza and Barcel ...

in July 2016, he signed his first professional contract later that month. Barco made his first team – and

Primera División Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera, Venezuelan musician, compos ...

– debut on 28 August 2016, coming on as a second-half substitute for Jesús Méndez in a 1–0 away win against Belgrano. He scored his first professional goal on 11 September, netting the last in a 2–0 home defeat of Godoy Cruz. Barco finished his first senior season with four goals in 30 league appearances. As a starter during the

2017 Copa Sudamericana The 2017 Copa CONMEBOL Sudamericana was the 16th edition of the CONMEBOL Sudamericana (also referred to as the ''Copa Sudamericana'', or pt, Copa Sul-Americana), South America's secondary club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL. Argent ...

, he scored the equalizer in the second leg of the Final against

Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; English: ''Flamengo Rowing Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea, best known for their professional football t ...

through a

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

Atlanta United

On 19 January 2018, Barco joined

club

as a

designated player The Designated Player Rule, nicknamed the Beckham Rule, allows Major League Soccer franchises to sign up to three players that would be considered outside their salary cap (either by offering the player higher wages or by paying a transfer fee ...

. The transfer fee paid by Atlanta United was reported to be $15 million, an MLS record. Barco made his debut for Atlanta United on 15 April 2018 in a 2–2 draw against

New York City FC New York City Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in New York City that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), the highest level of American soccer, as a member of the league's Eastern Conference. The club is co-owned ...

, coming on as a 70th minute substitute for

Kevin Kratz Kevin Kratz (born 21 January 1987) is a German professional manager (association football), football manager and former player who is the current technical director and head coach of MLS Next club Atlanta United U-16. Playing career Europe Af ...

. He scored his first goal for the club on 5 May 2018 against the Chicago Fire. He scored the opening goal as Atlanta United won 2–1. Barco was on the bench for Atlanta United during

MLS Cup 2018 MLS Cup 2018 was the 23rd edition of the MLS Cup, the championship match of Major League Soccer (MLS), which took place on December 8, 2018. It was the final match of the 2018 MLS Cup Playoffs and was contested by Atlanta United FC and the Por ...

against the

Portland Timbers The Portland Timbers are an American professional men's soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The Timbers have played their home games at P ...

. He came on as a substitute in the first minute of second-half stoppage time as Atlanta United won 2–0. Barco then won his second trophy with Atlanta United when the club won 3–2 over América in the

Campeones Cup The Campeones Cup is an annual North American association football match contested between the winners of the previous MLS Cup from Major League Soccer and the winners of the Campeón de Campeones from Liga MX. The competition was established by ...

, coming on as a late second-half substitute. A couple of weeks later, on 27 August, Barco was a starter in the

U.S. Open Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in men's Soccer in the United States, soccer in the United States of America. It is the oldest ongoing nati ...

final against

Minnesota United Minnesota United FC is an American professional soccer club based in Saint Paul, Minnesota that plays in the Western Conference of Major League Soccer. The club began play in 2017 as the league's 22nd club, and replaced the North American So ...

, helping his side win 2–1.

River Plate

On 30 January 2022, Barco joined

side River Plate on loan with an option to make the move permanent at the end of 2022 or 2023. On 10 February 2023 it was announced that Barco's loan to River Plate would become permanent on 1 January 2024.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Independiente *

Copa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Sudamericana, named as ''Copa Sudamericana'' (; pt, Copa Sul-Americana ), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 2002. It is the second-most prestigious club competition in South American ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

Atlanta United *

MLS Cup The MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The game is held in November and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Conference ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Individual *

MLS All-Star The Major League Soccer All-Star Game is an annual Association football, soccer game held by Major League Soccer featuring selected players from the league against an international club or selected players from Liga MX. MLS initially adopted a tr ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Barco, Esequiel 1999 births Living people Sportspeople from Santa Fe Province Argentine footballers Men's association football midfielders Argentine Primera División players Major League Soccer players Club Atlético Independiente footballers Atlanta United FC players Argentina men's youth international footballers Designated Players (MLS) Expatriate soccer players in the United States Argentine expatriate sportspeople in the United States Olympic footballers of Argentina Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics