Who brought top defender Ronald Araujo to Barca?
The Uruguayan arrived from Boston River and has become a key player
Ronald Araujo's success at Barça is the story of an atypical signing. Araujo was signed as an unknown quantity in 2018. Hailing from Boston River (Uruguay), Barça paid 1.7 million euros fixed with a variable five. Despite doubts at the club, Ramon Planes, then technical secretary, was the great supporter of both his signing and his arrival in the first team. The Uruguayan joined the youth team, then coached by Garcia Pimienta, where he coincided with other defenders such as Mingueza, Chumi and Cuenca.
It is an era in which young players are brought in for the reserve team, which means an outlay with a view to the first team. They sign above all players with potential: they think more about the player they can become than the reality of the moment. They are gambles, because they involve an outlay, but they are controlled because they are not significant amounts. Araujo was one of those 'experiments' and surely one of the most atypical because of his profile.
The Uruguayan had a physique fit for the elite but was a limited player on the ball. Despite having started out playing as a striker, he was not a defender educated to bring the ball out carefully. He had grown up in another school, that of Uruguay, but it was also not in his nature. Araujo was a big centre-back, who enjoyed defending, but was not very accurate when it came to distribution.
After a difficult start, where he struggled to adapt, he made himself important in the reserve team through hard work until he knocked on the door of the first team. Even then, nobody could have predicted such a meteoric evolution.
