Agent Luis Suarez: How El Pistolero Convinced Ronald Araujo to Join Liverpool on Loan from Barcelona
According to The Times, Araujo has even accepted a wage cut to facilitate his loan move from Barcelona to Liverpool and is ready to play straight away.
Photo: Courtesy.
By Robert Mutasi
Liverpool’s surprise loan signing of Barcelona defender Ronald Araujo was heavily influenced by former Reds and Barca striker Luis Suarez, who acted as an agent behind the scenes to convince his Uruguayan compatriot to make the move to Anfield.
Liverpool on Monday announced they have signed Uruguay defender Ronald Araujo from Spanish champions Barcelona on a season-long loan, as they moved to strengthen an injury-ravaged defence. The deal is a straight loan for the 27-year-old, who signed a new Barca contract until 2031 last year.
According to reports from Spain, Suarez personally intervened to sell the Liverpool project to Araujo.
“Luis Suarez calls and tells him that Liverpool are going all out for his signing,” revealed Catalan outlet E-Noticies. The article noted Suarez told Araujo that Liverpool view him as a long-term successor as Virgil van Dijk gets older and is held in very high esteem.
The two Uruguayans share a very close relationship from their time together with Barcelona and the Uruguay national team. Suarez has previously played a key role in Araujo’s career decisions. When Barcelona were trying to renew Araujo’s contract in the past, they even consulted Suarez for help, and he was credited with persuading the defender to stay at Camp Nou after interest from Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Manchester United. This time, the advice was the opposite.
E-Noticies reported: “Suarez urges Araujo to join… In a report from E-Noticies, a Spanish news website, Barcelona centre-back Ronald Araujo is depicted as having a really close relationship to Suarez and the former Red striker is said to have recommended a move to Liverpool, with the knowledge that Virgil Van Dijk is getting older”.
The outlet added that Suarez has ‘contacted’ Araujo and told him ‘to sign for Liverpool’, with Liverpool studying footage of the defender after a positive start to the season.
Araujo, who joined Barcelona B from Boston River in 2018 before being promoted to the first team in 2019, has made 178 appearances for Barcelona and lifted La Liga twice. He is regarded as one of Europe’s best defenders.
Liverpool’s move comes at a critical time. The Reds are facing mounting defensive problems after injuries and the uncertainty over Ibrahima Konate’s future, having narrowly missed out on Crystal Palace captain Marc Guehi on deadline day.
Araujo himself admitted the move happened quickly once he heard of the interest.
“As soon as I heard that interest from Liverpool, everything went into action really, really quickly,” Araujo said after the announcement.
According to The Times, Araujo has even accepted a wage cut to facilitate his loan move from Barcelona to Liverpool and is ready to play straight away.
From being convinced to stay by Suarez to now being convinced to leave by the same man, Araujo’s career continues to be guided by Uruguay’s most famous striker.
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