Barcelona Center-Back Ronald Araujo Joins Liverpool on Loan with Buy Option

Uruguayan national team center-back Ronald Araujo (27), who has also served as captain for Spanish professional football club FC Barcelona, has moved to English Premier League (EPL) side Liverpool on loan.

Liverpool announced today (KST) that they have signed Araujo on loan from Barcelona for the 2026–2027 season.

Barcelona also announced Araujo's loan move.

British outlet Sky Sports reported that the loan agreement includes an option to make the transfer permanent for 47.14 million pounds (approx. 90.35 billion won).

He is under contract with Barcelona until 2031.

Araujo is a center-back who has made 27 international appearances for the Uruguay national team.

He was included in the squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North and Central America, but did not play due to a calf muscle injury.

After starting his professional career with Uruguayan clubs Rentistas and Boston River, Araujo joined Barcelona's B team in 2018 and began playing for the first team from the 2019–2020 season.

He fully established himself as a key player starting from the 2020–2021 season.

Making 213 official appearances and scoring 14 goals for Barcelona, he contributed to the club winning La Liga three times, the Copa del Rey twice, and the Supercopa de España three times.

In January of this year, he wore the captain's armband following the loan departure of goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen, but with only 11 league starts last season when Barcelona won the La Liga title, his position was no longer what it used to be.

Sky Sports stated, "This deal works well for both parties," adding that "Liverpool needed to reinforce their defense due to injury concerns regarding several players, and Araujo wanted a fresh start as he was not part of head coach Hansi Flick's plans at Barcelona."

Araujo said, "I am happy to come to this huge club with such history," adding, "It was an ideal transfer at this point in my career."

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.