Ronald Araujo. Photo: Liverpool / X
Barcelona have loaned 27-year-old defender Ronald Araujo to Liverpool in a season long loan deal with an option to buy.
The Uruguayan, who is under contract at the LaLiga club until 2031, can be bought by the Premier League club for a reported $90m (£47.14m) next season.
Liverpool were in a defensive crisis heading into Andoni Iraola’s first campaign, with Virgil van Dijk the only fit senior central defender following Ibrahima Konate’s move to Real Madrid, injuries to Conor Bradley, Joe Gomez and Giovanni Leoni and new singing Jeremy Jacquet coming in underdone.
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While Araujo did not feature at the World Cup due to injury, he comes to Anfield as an option at both centre back and right back.
With more than 200 games under his belt for Bareclona since his debut in 2019, he brings much needed experience to the Reds, who will cover his salary for the season in lieu of a loan fee.
He told Liverpoolfc.com: “I can’t wait to get started. I’m very, very happy.
Ronald Araujo is heading to Anfield. Photo: Getty Images
“I’m excited to be here at this massive club with lots of history. I’m excited to meet my team-mates, excited to get started playing, and I’m very motivated and really up for getting going.
“I think it was the ideal move for me at this stage in my career. I think it was a move that was necessary for me to take. As soon as I heard that interest from Liverpool, everything went into action really, really quickly.
“As I say, I’m super-happy to be here and excited to get started. I’m glad about the interest and it was the right move at the right time.”
SuperCoach EPL analysis
Whether you bring the yet-to-be priced Araujo into your squad or not, what it does do is change the narrative around Liverpool slightly.
At this point, you’d have concerns about the defensive bona fides of Iraola’s squad and while this doesn’t alleviate them completely, it might make you consider a Liverpool defender or midfielder now for some of their defensive metrics, as they can gain points for team outputs like clean sheets.
They’ve surrendered two-goal leads in their last two friendlies against Leeds and Monaco, albeit after rotating their substitutes, but on paper were looking light on at the back.
Araujo’s signing is a no brainer for Liverpool. The fast, strong and experienced defender papers over cracks until Jacquet is fit, but if the Uruguayan rediscovers his best they have a proper option now in the defensive line.
He has also suffered with mental health issues in recent years, and this is a fresh start, particularly as he didn’t suite Hansi Flick’s structure and also might have been looking for a clean break after a series of high profile mistakes in the club’s recent Champions League campaigns.
But when at his best, was so highly rated he was elevated to Barcelona’s captaincy.
“He is a very good person and an exceptional player, but our style of play is slightly different,” Flick said recently.
“He is a footballer with great speed and power, and he is good with the ball at his feet, too. I wanted to get him involved; I think he is eager to try new things, and I believe he has also been affected by what happened in the past.
“I said goodbye to him this morning and saw that he was happy. Liverpool is a great club, and I wish him the best. You have to accept it.”