Barcelona defender plays down transfer talk

Ronald Araujo has played rumours that he could leave Barcelona this summer, despite links to several top clubs.

The defender has had a really strong couple of campaigns working his way into the Barca XI, but the fact his contract is expiring had led to lots of people concluding he would leave on a free this summer.

He has insisted that’s not the case, in quotes picked up by the Sun:

“I am very happy to be here and happy with the support of the club. We are working [on a new contract]. This week we have a meeting.”

“I hope it will be resolved soon so that I can continue many years at this club. I am optimistic.”

It seemed a mad idea in any case, with Barca set to sign Andreas Christensen and possibly Antonio Rudiger and Cesar Azpilicueta all on free transfers on Chelsea. Surely they’d be better off leaving at least one of them with us, and then keeping Araujo.

But as always there are countless machinations behind the scenes that we don’t know about, and this could be a bluff, or a double bluff, or the truth. All will become clear once the window opens, and once Chelsea’s departing defenders finally tell us what their plans are.

Chelsea News