Liverpool sign Ronald Araujo on loan from Barcelona as defensive ranks thin
Liverpool have signed Uruguay defender Ronald Araujo on a season-long loan from Barcelona, with an option to buy worth around £47m (The Athletic). The 25-year-old is expected to join up with the squad this weekend after the deal was confirmed on 10 August (BBC Sport).
The move addresses a pressing need. Head coach Andoni Iraola has spent pre-season working with a threadbare group of centre-backs — the defenders who play in the middle of the back line. Joe Gomez, summer signing Jeremy Jacquet and Giovanni Leoni are all recovering from injury, leaving Iraola short of options (BBC Sport).
Jacquet, a 21-year-old Frenchman who arrived from Rennes in a £60m deal, has not featured in pre-season friendlies because of a minor knee problem. Iraola told LFCTV he expects Jacquet to be available for Liverpool's double-header against Como (BBC Sport).
In the meantime, Iraola paired 35-year-old captain Virgil van Dijk with Austrian teenager Ifeanyi Ndukwe for Sunday's 3-2 friendly defeat by Monaco at Anfield (Liverpoolfc.com). Ndukwe, an 18-year-old who stands 6ft 6in tall, impressed after joining from Austria Vienna this summer. But he does not yet qualify for a UK work permit, meaning Iraola cannot use him in competitive matches this season (BBC Sport).
Araujo arrives at Anfield after a difficult year in Catalonia. His playing time had dwindled under Barcelona manager Hansi Flick, who arrived in May 2024, as Gerard Martin and Pau Cubarsi became the preferred central-defensive pairing. In December, Barcelona granted Araujo a leave of absence to prioritise his mental health, following a red card in a Champions League defeat by Chelsea (BBC Sport).
He returned to training in January and scored on his first start back, in a Copa del Rey — Spain's domestic cup competition — quarter-final win at Albacete. The following month, he told Mundo Deportivo that he had experienced anxiety for 18 months which developed into depression (BBC Sport).
Araujo has been capped 27 times by Uruguay since his debut in 2020. He was part of Marcelo Bielsa's squad at this summer's World Cup but did not feature at the tournament (BBC Sport).
His Uruguay team-mate and former Liverpool striker Darwin Nunez posted on X that Araujo was joining a "great club" (BBC Sport).
For Liverpool, the signing plugs a gap that pre-season had exposed. For Araujo, it offers a fresh start at a club where the expectations are sky-high and the defensive shortages mean he will be needed immediately.
