Barcelona have contract deadline to keep Ronald Araujo 

Barcelona are still yet to register star central defender Ronald Araujo as a first-team, despite the fact the Uruguayan signed a new deal last summer.

The 23-year-old put pen to paper on a deal keeping him at Barcelona until 2026 last season, which was considered an important step amid interest from Liverpool and Manchester United.

However with Barcelona struggling to fit into their salary limit, he is yet to play under that deal. In the January window, Hector Bellerin and Memphis Depay left, but Barcelona still had to recur to a court in order to get Gavi registered. They chose to register the midfielder first, even though he signed his deal after Araujo, as if he is not registered before the end of the season, Gavi’s contract will be void and he would be able to leave on a free.

That could still be the case with Araujo too. However MD say that Barcelona are calm about the situation, as that same clause in Araujo’s contract will not come into force before the 1st of August. They intend on having him registered on the 1st of July, at the next available opportunity.

Even so if he cannot be registered at the beginning of July, concern will creep in. More pressing will be the court decision on Gavi’s contract. The judge granted temporary permission to register the youngster while they came to the final decision. Should that judgement go against Barcelona, it could trigger a chain of events that lead to Gavi being a free agent