Barcelona are reportedly making a late play to land 21-year-old LA Galaxy right-back Julian Araujo.
According to Albert Roge on Twitter, La Liga behemoths Barcelona are closing in on securing the transfer of Julian Araujo from MLS side Los Angeles Galaxy.
A former member of the Barcelona Residency Academy, the Mexican international moved to LA Galaxy in 2018, initially playing for their second team. He eventually was promoted to the senior side and has made 109 appearances across all competitions, scoring twice and assisting 14 more.
At 21, Araujo is at the right age to take his game to the next level and appears to be doing just that. There are few better clubs than Barcelona who identify potential, and the Catalan giants are close to securing the player for themselves.
A right-back, Araujo is already a full international for Mexico and has won three caps for the American side. A good tackler who also has an eye for a pass, the 21-year-old is adept at both ends of the pitch. This makes him an excellent prospect who can thrive in the modern game.
LA Galaxy ya ha trasladado al Barça que están dispuestos a aceptar la oferta por Julian Araujo y solo están pendientes del OK de la MLS para cerrar la cesión con opción de compra de algo más de 5M del lateral derecho.
Con @tjuanmarti en @relevo #fcblive pic.twitter.com/En7Euhl2Kh
— Albert Rogé (@albert_roge) January 31, 2023
Barcelona and LA Galaxy already have an agreement in place with the latter waiting for the MLS to sanction the deal. The agreement appears to be to take the player initially on loan before making the deal permanent for €5 million. Given the market and the player’s potential, Barcelona appear to have landed themselves a quite sweet deal.
Xavi Hernandez’s arrival appears to have reinvigorated the club, and a massive rebuild is in the works. One position that could do with a revamp is at right-back, where the Blaugrana lack a long-term automatic first choice.
Sergi Roberto and Hector Bellerin are the club’s lone senior options for the role. The former has not quite developed as expected, while the latter is linked with a late move to Sporting CP among others this January. Should Bellerin leave, Barcelona cannot afford to go into the remainder of the campaign with only Roberto to call upon at right-back.
Araujo has much to learn before he can be considered a top-level player. But there are few better clubs than Barcelona to do just that. The Catalans, do their part, will hope that Araujo turns out to be a better player than Sergino Dest, who is currently on loan at AC Milan.
