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Hansi Flick, the Barcelona manager, has shared his happiness about defender Ronald Araujo staying at the club after they rejected the move of Juventus to bring him in during the ongoing January transfer window. The Italian giants had made a formal bid of $36 million to sign Araujo, which was way below the minimum valuation of $51 million of the player from Barcelona, and it led to the deal not going through.
As per the report from beIN Sports, Barcelona are currently talking with Ronald Araujo over long-term contract renewal, and it is understood that both parties will agree to it very soon. Moreover, in his recent appearance for Barcelona, Araujo was quite exceptional at the heart of team’s defence during their 5-1 win over Real Betis in the Copa del Rey home clash at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, to reach the quarter-final of the competition.
I’m so happy to have him here with us: Flick on Araujo
In the post-match interview, Hansi Flick spoke about Ronald Araujo’s contract situation at Barcelona, which had been quite uncertain over the past couple of weeks before its eventual resolution recently. He was quoted as saying, “He (Ronald Araujo) has a contract for a year and a half and I never had any doubt on his future. I’m so happy to have him here with us. You’ve seen how the fans were also celebrating Ronald tonight. He gives us something special.”
Moreover, last weekend, Barcelona thrashed Real Madrid 5-2 at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to win the Spanish Super Cup for the 15th time in their history. However, the La Liga form of the Catalan giants isn’t quite up to their normal standards in the last couple of months, which has meant that they are six points from first place on the standings.
Barcelona have accumulated 38 points from 19 matches in La Liga, six less than Atletico Madrid in first place and five less than Real Madrid in second place.
