Araujo leaves Barça

BarcelonaRonald Araujo will pack his bags this summer. The Uruguayan defender from Barça has accepted a lightning-fast proposal from Liverpool and will go on loan to Anfield for next season. Hansi Flick does not count on him as a starter and the player has considered that the best for him is to look for minutes in another team. The information was advanced by Fabrizio Romano and confirmed by ARA late this Friday.

On Wednesday, the blaugrana coach had a conversation with the footballer and conveyed to him that his intention in the defensive line was to continue as last season. That is to say, Araujo would not start as a protagonist. The Uruguayan center-back sportingly accepted the German coach's intentions and, after thinking about it, entrusted his representatives with the task of finding him a new destination outside of Barcelona.

A lightning operation

The footballer considers that, after a complicated last season at Barça, he needs to gain minutes to recover his best version and has positively valued a change of scenery. In 48 hours, the Uruguayan defender's agents found the option to go on loan to Liverpool, which convinced Araujo. This Friday, the proposal was transferred to Barça in a meeting that ended between 10 and 11 PM. The Barça sporting director, Deco, has given the green light to the departure.

Araujo signed a millionaire renewal in early 2025 until 2031. Convinced by Deco, the Uruguayan extended his contract instead of going to Juventus, which at that time was paying a transfer fee to take him in the winter market. That decision was not followed by better performance and, added to injuries and a mental health leave, the international center-back with Uruguay gradually lost prominence. To the point that Flick has preferred other players to play as center-back.

Liverpool is taking charge of Ronald Araujo's entire salary

Under this agreement, Barça will free up significant salary, as Liverpool will assume it entirely in exchange for having the footballer at their disposal for the next campaign, in which he will play in the Champions League under his new coach, Andoni Iraola. The English club also reserves a non-mandatory purchase option, but according to sources close to Araujo's circle at Barça, the player could return to the blaugrana entity next season.

The departure of the Uruguayan will facilitate the registrations of the new blaugrana signings. Anthony Gordon and Karim Adeyemi are not yet listed among those registered in the Spanish League. Andreas Christensen's new contract, which has extended his link with Barça until 2028, is also not yet registered, and the coach - the main architect of the Dane remaining at Barça - is confident of recovering a good version of the 30-year-old center-back. In fact, Flick rejected signing Inter player Alessandro Bastoni and placed his trust in last season's center-back pairing, formed by Pau Cubarsí and Gerard Martín, and adding Christensen to the equation.

Eric Garcia can also play both in the center of defense and at right-back. Álvaro Cortés, a left-footed center-back from the reserve team, also has a high chance of staying with the first team. He himself stated a few days ago that he considered his time at Barça Atlètic to be over. The departure of Ronald Araujo (added to that of Marc-André ter Stegen) also opens the captaincy door to players like Eric Garcia or Pablo Gavi.