Manchester United are prepared to ‘submit a high transfer offer’ to Barcelona before June 30th for defender Ronald Araujo.
That’s according to Sport, who say this week will be ‘key’ for the defender’s contract renewal talks at the Nou Camp.
Araujo is out of contract next summer, and Barcelona are keen to get him signed to a new deal, but their efforts to make that happen have fallen by the wayside so far.
Reports in Spain have indicated this is because Araujo has been disappointed by what Barcelona have offered so far, having asked for terms similar to those given to Pedri and Ansu Fati but not received that.
The Catalans, then, need to up their efforts to convince Araujo to stay, and Sport say that is what they will do next week.
They say they will ‘try to reach a difficult agreement’ despite the two are currently ‘far apart’ in their valuations.
In fact, the last proposal made by Barcelona is half what the player and his entourage want so there is a long way to go before an agreement can be reached.
They are aware that the player has interest from elsewhere, particularly the Premier League, from where he ‘handles very important offers’.
Manchester United are one of those who are keen and have been named as suitors for months, with their offer to him recently leaked by his agent.
Sport back up that they are keen on the centre-back and say that they would even be willing to make an offer should the player’s negotiations with Barcelona break down.
According to the newspaper, they are ‘prepared to present a high transfer offer’ before June 30th, something that Barcelona could ‘consider’ if the defender makes it clear he won’tbe signing a new deal.
They naturally don’t want that to happen and believe it would be ‘madness’ to lose Araujo, who has established himself in the first-team as a player with a bright future ahead of him.
They’re going to do all they can to get Araujo signed to a new deal, particularly as Xavi is pushing for the club to keep him.
Manchester United are lingering in the background, though, and seemingly ready to push ahead with a big offer if contract negotiations continue to falter.
