Liverpool have agreed a surprising deal with Barcelona to sign Ronald Araujo for the upcoming season on a loan basis.
According to Skysports, Liverpool would acquire the 27-year-old defender on loan with an option to buy him for about £47.14m (€55m).
Ronald Araujo will travel to the UK next Sunday for his medical check-up and complete his switch to Liverpool.
In 2018, the player signed his first contract for Barcelona where he played for their B squad and progressed to the first team in 2019.
The 27-year-old center-back will be a useful addition to Iraola’s options in defense after the departure of Ibrahima Konate to Real Madrid and worries regarding the relatively young 21-year-old Jeremy Jacquet’s fitness.
Jacquet, Liverpool’s summer signing from Rennes, has fewer than 100 senior career appearances so far and did not feature in any of the pre-seasons because of the shoulder surgery he had late last season.
Also, Joe Gomez sustained a muscle injury in Liverpool’s first pre-season match of the new season, and Giovanni Leoni, a teenage center-back, remains out of action due to the ACL injury. The only healthy center-back for Liverpool is captain Virgil van Dijk.
Araujo is mainly a center-back but can play as right-back. This will help Liverpool in filling up both their problematic positions, right-back and center-back.
Araujo joined Barcelona from his homeland Uruguay in 2018 and made his debut for the Catalan side the following October. Since then, he has made over 200 appearances for them.
The player was named as one of the club’s captains after Marc-Andre Ter Stegen left in January, but he only played 11 LaLiga games last season due to the lengthy absence from football in November 2025 due to what he had revealed later was depression.
