Mixed reports surface as Juventus eye potential move for Barca's Ronald Araújo

Yesterday at 02:05 PM

Let's try and make some sense out of all this from the last couple of days.

There's reportedly a new name to throw into the ring when it comes to defenders that Juventus are interested in signing during the January transfer window: Barcelona's Ronald Araújo. The 25-year-old Uruguayan who is just back from a long-term hamstring injury is suddenly somebody who is being linked with a potential loan move to Juventus — something that is very much the kind of opportunity a team with depth issues would need.

However, the information that is currently out there about Juve's chase of Araújo over the last 24 or 48 hours has been anything but consistent. Or even giving us one direction to try and follow along.

A lot of reporting in Italy says that Juventus are very much pushing to sign the versatile Araújo, with La Gazzetta dello Sport saying Tuesday evening that he has given the green light to a move to Turin. However, that was shortly followed by a report from Spanish outlet Diario SPORT that said that Araújo's camp has basically shot down the reported approval when it comes to a potential move to Juventus, clouding the waters more than just a little bigt when it comes to where things actually standing between the Bianconeri and Barcelona.

Just for added measure, we got this on Wednesday: Another Spanish outlet, Mundo Deportivo, reported that Arsenal have joined the chase for Araújo and said that Juventus' offer for the center back who can also play out wide on the right is of the loan with obligation to buy variety. They add that Araújo's willingness to sign a contract extension at Barcelona will likely play a big role in if he stays or goes elsewhere in January.

Now, that's a lot there, and like I said not a lot of it is all that consistent when it comes to how things currently stand when it comes to Juventus' reported interest in Araújo.

On Thursday, Romeo Agresti reported that Juventus and Barcelona will hold talks to discuss the potential of a deal for the Uruguayan defender, who made his 2024-25 season debut — and played a full 90 minutes — this past weekend in Barcelona's Copa Del Rey win over Barbasto. He had been out since suffering an injury in the quarterfinals of the Copa America last summer.

So, going by that, I feel like we can take away that Juventus are interested in making a run at Araújo, but with Arsenal reportedly looking there, the lure for a cash-strapped club like Barcelona to take advantage of some Premier League interest is always going to be there.

When it comes to Araújo's on-field availability, that's another thing to consider. He's 25 but already has quite a long list of injuries. Over the last 3 ¹⁄₂ years, Araújo has dealt with 10 injury stops, both of the minor and moderate variety. In the 2022-23 and 2023-24 campaigns, he was unable to play more than 2,000 minutes in La Liga. His career high for minutes played in a single season came during the 2021-22 campaign when he played just over 3,200 minutes, appearing in 43 games (36 starts) in all competitions for Barcelona.