Transfer News: Barcelona know Liverpool are interested in signing defender Ronald Araujo
According to Spanish publication Sport via HITC (h/t Liverpool Echo), Barcelona are aware of Liverpool’s interest in signing star defender Ronald Araujo, with Manchester United also linked.
The Uruguayan international, who has now won 9 caps for his country, has had an impressive spell at Barcelona in the last couple of years. This season, he has already made 37 appearances for Xavi’s side and is arguably one of their best defenders so far.
At 23, the 1.88m tall centre-back has made himself one of the main fixtures in Barca’s starting XI. His current deal ends in 2023 and talks to extend that deal broke down earlier, but the La Liga giants haven’t given up.
Apparently, they plan to “end Liverpool’s hopes” by way of a new contract for the Uruguayan defender that runs until 2026 and has a release clause of €1billion. If that was ever going to be the case, then the Reds can effectively forget about signing the Barca star by activating such a clause.
No Ronald, no problem!
If we are to miss out on the star defender, then is it really a big blow for us? Currently, the Reds employ four very good centre-backs. Virgil van Dijk is arguably one of the best defenders of our generation and Joel Matip has more or less reached the heights he was tipped to reach when he was nominated for the Golden Boy award in 2010.
Ibrahima Konate has shown his aerial prowess in recent times, scoring twice against SL Benfica and recently against Manchester City in the FA Cup semi-final. At 22, he still has a lot of time to develop. The same goes for versatile defender Joe Gomez, who has made 139 senior appearances for the Reds at the age of just 24.
So, it is safe to say the world doesn’t end for us if we don’t bring in a centre-back in the near future, granted we keep a hold of the aforementioned quartet. Konate was perhaps a signing we needed ever since Dejan Lovren left, but now that he is here, the centre-back department seems stacked.
And this is without Nat Phillips and Rhys Williams- two players who were instrumental in our bid to finish third last season. The former is currently out on loan at AFC Bournemouth.
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Rather, the Reds would be wise to try and bring in a quality holding midfielder to deputise for Fabinho when necessary or replace the ageing James Milner in the long run. Some would argue that with Harvey Elliott and Curtis Jones making waves recently, we already have a successor for the 36-year-old Englishman if and when he leaves the Reds.
