Ronald
Araujo
(Rivera, Uruguay, 1999) has earned a position in the starting team of
Barça
in his own right
.
The lack of more troops and the serious injury of Gerard
Piqué
have given him a lot of prominence in a center of the defense that, to this day, continues to be taken with pincers.
A weak point that
Rayo Vallecano
, their rival in the
Copa del Rey
, may try to exploit to deprive them today of the pass to the quarterfinals.
The young center-back, despite the occasional rude failure, is now almost immovable in the plans of a
Ronald Koeman
with whom he shares the number, although, at the club, there are many who see parallels with another Barcelona myth:
Carles Puyol
.
Those who have worked with him do not hesitate to emphasize that he is a humble person, with a very well furnished head.
But they also point out that he shares other very remarkable characteristics with the great Barça captain.
Araujo is not afraid of contact
.
Nor, either, go to the crash when necessary.
And that, precisely, cost him a good disappointment in what was his debut in an official match with the Barça first team.
Ernesto Valverde
opted for him as a replacement for an injured
Todibo
in the final
stretch
of a League match against Sevilla at the Camp Nou, on October 6, 2019, but, 14 minutes later, he saw a direct red for stopping
Chicharito
when faced the door.
With Puyol he also shares humble origins, located in a mountain town.
In Uruguay, he began to stand out in the ranks of Rentistas, the team in which part of his training took place and from where he would make the leap to Boston River to debut in the elite of Uruguayan football.
The current technical secretary of Barça,
Ramon Planes
, had him in his sights for a long time.
He, precisely, was the great architect of Araujo arriving in the summer of 2018. In principle, to play in the subsidiary and in exchange for 1.7 million.
That first season would be adaptation and was complicated by bureaucratic issues that prevented him from playing until the end of October.
Since then, he would play 22 of 28 possible games in
Second B
, which would become 22 of 25 in his second year, including the semifinal and the
playoff
final
of a promotion.
With the first team, he had minutes in six games, five from the hand of
Quique Setién
.
In the player's environment they are very clear that there are some aspects of their game that must be polished, especially those related to the exit of the ball.
Something that the player he is replacing, Piqué, has perfectly assimilated, as well as Koeman's great goal to reinforce the defense:
Eric García
.
It does not seem that the club's box can support his signing until at least July.
Araujo is not afraid of it.
Those who know him well argue that it does not have to mean an ostracism sentence.
Rather the complete opposite.
Tactical sense and ball movement may not be his strong points, but they are sure that with the City player for now, he can form a reliable and powerful duo like the one formed by Piqué and Puyol.
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