Similarities emerge between Barcelona captain’s new deal and Dembélé’s 2022 renewal terms | OneFootball

FC Barcelona achieved one of their priority short-term objectives a few days ago as the defender Ronald Araujo finally signed his new contract after a long process of negotiations.

This development brings more certainty to the Uruguayan’s future at the Blaugrana club as his previous contract was ending in 2026, and he would have entered the next season with only one year left on his contract without this renewal.

However, Araujo’s future at the Catalan club can be subject to uncertainty even after this renewal as this new contract saw a significant decline in his release clause, from €1 billion to €65 million for the next summer transfer window and €80 million for the next winter transfer window.

Thus, Barcelona would get a significant amount of money if the center-back decides to leave in the coming months, while there will still be a way open for Araújo to leave if he is not entirely satisfied with his situation at the Blaugrana club.

But as SPORT has noted, this new situation of the Barcelona captain brings back memories of another similar operation taken by Joan Laporta’s administration, when the French winger Ousmane Dembélé agreed to extend his contract by decreasing his release clause from €400 million to €50 million.

Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images

At that time, Barcelona had already decided to let the winger leave for free, but Xavi Hernandez asked for a renewal, and a new contract was signed with a low release clause that was significantly lower than Dembele’s market value.

Furthermore, the Catalans were at even more disadvantage as the French forward would take 50% of the proceeds if his release clause was paid, something that is not the case with Araujo.

Ultimately, PSG decided to trigger his release clause only a year after this renewal was signed, but instead of €25 million, Barcelona pocketed €35.4 million from this operation after alleging that Dembele had not met the negotiated objectives and threatened to freeze the payment of his entire part of the release clause.

Thus, Araujo’s case is not as extreme as that of Ousmane Dembélé, but it still brings back the bad memories of the Frenchman’s departure from Barcelona.