Rijo Sam Daniel
Everton enter the race to sign Barcelona centre-back Ronald Araujo amidst Manchester United interest
According to The Athletic (Subscription Required), Everton are keeping a close eye on Barcelona centre-back Ronald Araujo amidst interest from Manchester United. He missed the recent 1-1 draw against Napoli in the Europa League, having suffered a knock against Espanyol in their La Liga clash.
Araujo will enter the final year of his current contract at Camp Nou at the end of this season. Talks have begun over an extension, but both parties have not been able to reach an agreement so far. His camp wants a significant increase to his salary package, which is far too low considering his contributions to the Blaugrana’s cause.
There are no signs that a deal is close to being agreed to, which has attracted close attention from elsewhere. Apart from the Toffees and Man United, Chelsea and Manchester City are also keeping tabs on the situation to try their chances at an appropriate moment. Supposedly, Real Madrid have also been touted to be interested, although the claim could possibly be malicious.
Man Utd need to put pressure!
Even if strengthening the midfield should be our primary concern, several other areas also need to be bolstered in our squad. Despite having numbers available, the Red Devils continue to leak goals and could do with some added steel.
Harry Maguire has been inconsistent since his return from injury, while his displays before that have also largely been forgettable. Phil Jones and Eric Bailly need to be replaced as we cannot count on them if we have ambitions to challenge both domestic and European heavyweights. That only leaves us with Raphael Varane and Victor Lindelof.
Araujo would be a fine option in such a case to add to our team and we must try our best to try and sign him. Barca could find it difficult in agreeing to terms over a new contract due to their dire financial situation and the league’s salary rules.
That could work in our favour as the Catalans will be forced to tick all the boxes to finalise a contract extension. Even so, Everton are beginning a new era under Frank Lampard and could splash the cash to aid their new manager’s rebuild.
While the Toffees are certainly a smaller fish in comparison to us, Man United cannot afford to take them lightly and afford them free rein at the Barcelona defender’s services.
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The Blues and Man City would also cause concern since they are simply in a better state than us currently. That could make them a more attractive prospect, but Man United could yet make a case for ourselves given that we qualify for the UEFA Champions League.
After all, new signings would probably want to know the direction we are heading before committing to the cause. It remains to be seen if the Manchester board can pull off a coup for the Blaugrana defender as we near the summer transfer window.
