Liverpool has made a move to sign Ronald Araujo on loan from Barcelona, with Andoni Iraola's roster currently looking light of numbers in defense heading into the new season
Barcelona defender Ronald Araujo.
Barcelona defender Ronald Araujo.(Image: Aitor Alcalde Colomer/Getty Images)
Liverpool has made a move to sign the Barcelona defender Ronald Araujo on a season-long loan deal. The Uruguayan can play center-back and right-back.
Andoni Iraola is currently without Joe Gomez through injury after he limped off during pre-season, with it being later revealed that he will miss around a month of action and therefore the start of the new campaign. Giovanni Leoni is still working his way back from an ACL injury and Conor Bradley could be sidelined for another while yet.
In news broken by Fabrizio Romano, Liverpool has therefore swooped in for Araujo. The 27-year-old center-back plays for Uruguay and made 24 appearances in La Liga last season.
Araujo represents an experienced head at the back and would increase the number of options available to Iraola in a crucial part of the field.
The Spaniard has spoken several times about needing more depth in key areas such as his defense, with Ibrahima Konate having departed to join Real Madrid as a free agent at the end of his contract.
Asked specifically about bringing in a right-back earlier this summer, Iraola admitted it might be something that Liverpool has to think about.
Ronald Araujo
Ronald Araujo is set for a loan move to Anfield(Image: Ryan Pierse - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
"I think it depends on Conor Bradley's situation," Iraola said. "At the end, if you have a fully fit, healthy Conor Bradley, we are very happy, ready to go and we would not be asking ourselves these questions.
"I think it’s a situation that is tricky, because we trust Conor in the long term, we know we want him to be our right-back but right now he is still, I would say, a little bit far from returning.
"So, with the center-back, with the right-back situation, in terms of defensive depth, we are, I think, very thin right now so I think it’s a solution that we are trying to find, yes."
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So far this summer, Liverpool has signed 20-year-old Jeremy Jacquet to play in defense and young forward Victor Munoz.
Jacquet is very highly rated, but he is yet to play a game in a Reds jersey thanks to the need to manage him as he comes back from injury.
This weekend, Liverpool will take on AS Monaco at Anfield in what will be the first opportunity for Iraola to be in the home dugout.
Ifeanyi Ndukwe and Luke Chambers are among the defenders to have filled in successfully during pre-season, but the former is missing the requirements for a work permit and the latter is left-footed, when someone on the right is of higher importance.