Ronald Araujo saga leads Barcelona to making contract change

Earlier this week, Ronald Araujo signed a new long-term contract with Barcelona, ending speculation on his future for the time being. The 25-year-old had been destined to leave this month after becoming unhappy with his situation, but after much convincing from sporting director Deco, he has stayed – for now.

As part of those discussions with Deco, Araujo was promised that his release clause would be lowered from €1bn to a more affordable amount for interested clubs. This has since been confirmed to be €65m, although it was not Barcelona that announced this, and there is a deliberate reason for this.

In the past, Barcelona have often confirmed the value of a players’ release clause when they can sign a new contract, but they did not this with Araujo nor with Gerard Martin, whose new deal was also confirmed earlier this week. According to MD, this will be how it goes from now on.

Barcelona believe that it is not necessary to reveal as much information to the transfer market as they had previously done so, which is why it has been decided that release clauses will no longer be made public by the club. It also means that when Pedri and Gavi’s new contracts are confirmed, which should happen in the next couple of weeks, theirs will also not been made known – although the likelihood is that both will remain at €1bn.

It does make sense for Barcelona to take this step, especially in the case of Araujo. If it is true that his new release clause is €65m, it is bound to attract a lot of interest from clubs across Europe. Juventus were strongly interested in signing the Uruguayan defender this month, and it would be no surprise if they made another move in the summer.