Fourteen minutes later, he’d been sent off for a challenge on Javier Hernandez when the Mexican was through on goal.Īraujo continued with Barca’s reserves for the majority of 2019-20 but by the July of a campaign that was interrupted by COVID-19, everything had been put in place to register him as a first-team member with a new contract. On October 6 that year, he made his senior debut in a La Liga victory over Sevilla, coming on in the 73rd minute. He did it in his bedroom, where hanging from the wall was a white sheet of paper that read: “You are going to be the best centre-back in Europe.”Īraujo would spend two years on the books of Barca Atletic, also commonly known as Barca B, but by 2019 he was already being called up to the first team. In his early days at Barca, he bought a cheap inflatable football with the club’s badge on it from a market and would spend nights honing his technique with it after training. There were also times when Araujo took the initiative himself. They say he has always been - and still is, at the age of 24 - receptive to criticism on any aspect of his game in which he can improve. They describe a player who responds brilliantly to instruction. They say he turned down offers from elsewhere precisely for an opportunity to learn according to the Barca school, even if that meant spending a season in the reserves with no future guarantee of a move to the first team. Sources familiar with Araujo’s early days in Catalonia - who preferred not to be named in this article so as to protect relationships - say that he wanted to soak up the club’s philosophy from the very first moment. Time is proving him right.Īraujo’s adaptation was not easy, but what made him stand out - apart from his physique - was his mentality. Despite what some others at the club thought at the time, Planes could see his enormous potential. Planes, so impressed by the youngster’s energy, persisted until he managed to sign him ahead of them, and Araujo joined Barca Atletic, the club’s reserve side made up primarily of youth players. Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Villarreal were all after Araujo. He knew the Uruguayan market well, and back in 2018 was hearing a lot about a young striker who’d recently been converted to centre-back - a 19-year-old who was playing for Montevideo club Boston River in the country’s top division. Ramon Planes was the assistant sporting director who brought him to Catalonia.

The charismatic myth