Valentin Barco adds his name to Albion’s Argentinian connections as he arrives from Boca Juniors.

Leo Ulloa and Alexis Mac Allister are the most celebrated while Facundo Buonanotte could follow them.

Mauricio Taricco was let off the leash at full-back as an added extra to his main job of assisting manager Gus Poyet.

Way back, there was the strange signing of Federico Turienzo after a poor pre-season showing at Lewes.

And, on the first day of pre-season in 2010, we were introduced to a pair of youngsters from the lower-league Comunicaciones club.

Agustin Battipiedi and Cristian Baz were picked up as a result of a summer scouting trip to South America by Poyet and Taricco.

Both played support roles in the following campaign, which saw the Seagulls win the League One title with four games to spare ahead of a Southampton side which included Adam Lallana, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Ricky Lambert.

“I was very young,” Battipiedi recalls now of that first morning at the University of Sussex sports club, where Albion trained.

“I hadn’t been abroad for a long time but it was a great chance for me to help my career.

“It was a high-level step and it was a dream come true.

“Here in Argentina, we all grew up watching English football on a Saturday and Sunday morning because of the time difference but not many footballers actually got there.

“Nowadays it’s easier with social media and everyone can watch every single game.

“At the time, it was either the gaffer comes to your country or you send a DVD so they can watch you play. It was amazing, to be honest.”

Baz and Battipiedi, or Chino and Batti as they were known, were well looked after.

Battipiedi said: “Obviously we got good money compared to other countries.

“I’m sure the difference now is huge and well deserved because they are Premier League and a European team and the club has been growing a lot.

“That season was like the before and after.

“We got the promotion, we got the new stadium.

“People were then filling the stadium at the Amex. It was for 21,000 people, something like that, and it was full.”

The Premier League was a long way off back then but Battipiedi makes no secret of the fact that was the goal as he and Baz landed in England.

He said: “No doubt! But coming to Brighton was already a huge step.

“We got the promotion and we were League One champions so I got that far.

“I would have liked to be part of Brighton for a long time.

“I know how it works, I know the ambition of the club. I was only 20, 21.

“I can have no regrets because I gave everything.

“Nowadays I am a more mature player and now you can see things differently to when you were a kid.

“But I was one of that team. I feel myself that I was an important player for that squad.

“I’d have loved to have been a Premier League player.

“I couldn’t make that but I am still happy with where I am nowadays.”

Battipiedi was bilingual, a mature character, good on the ball and quite an English style of midfielder.

Baz, meanwhile, was the inconsistent, unpredictable, somewhat temperamental bag of South American tricks we possibly expected in those less educated days.

One recalls him clinching victory with an outrageous slow-motion penalty in an FA Cup shoot-out at Woking.

On that first morning in Falmer, it rather seemed like one of the new boys was looking after the other.

Battipiedi, now 33, said: “I remember that! I could speak and understand the language and it helps a lot.

“He (Baz) was a bit like confused at certain points.

“Fortunately for me and him and the team, he understood the situation.

“He could manage to get through that moment and then he enjoyed it a lot and it was a great experience for him as well.

“It was a huge change. We spoke a lot about how it was.

“League One in England and in Argentina are quite different.

“The flat we had was amazing. It was on the seafront. I can remember waking up and seeing the sea.

“The whole season was quite perfect.”

Battipiedi lost contact with Baz some time ago and believes he is no longer playing.

It is currently the close season in Argentina and Battipiedi is weighing up options as he looks to another campaign in the third tier.

He has spent time in Spain and Paraguay, has a degree in sports journalism and is also taking his coaching badges.

From afar, he remains a connection between Albion and Argentina.

He said: “I am a Brighton fan. I watch every single game and people ask me about Brighton a lot.

“It has become a well known team here, partly because of Alexis.

“Dunky and Solly March played with me so I have that feeling with the club and also everyone I met when I was there.”