Araujo ruled out of Uruguay’s first two World Cup games, doubt for the third | OneFootball

In the last few days, there has been an increasing concern within the Barcelona camp over the situation of defender Ronald Araujo.

Yet to recover completely from a thigh injury that required surgery, the 23-year-old was named in the Uruguay squad for the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar.

And in recent days the centre-half has upped the intensity in training sessions and accelerated his recovery timeline in order to make a swift return to action.

Barcelona had an agreement with Uruguay that Araujo’s recovery will not be rushed, but the club have a suspicion that the South American nation have been pushing for the defender to return on the pitch soon so that he can participate in the World Cup matches.

It has led to the Catalans considering a formal complaint against the Uruguayan Football Federation.

However, according to Helena Condis of COPE, Uruguay continue to insist that they have not breached any agreement they had with Barcelona with regard to Araujo’s recovery.

La Celeste have informed the journalist that Araujo has been definitively ruled out of their first two group matches of the World Cup against South Korea and Portugal. On top of that, they have even said that he is highly doubtful to feature against Ghana in the third group game.

Furthermore, Uruguay claim that Araujo is not involved in normal training sessions with the rest of the group but only participates in the exercise and jogging routines before working by himself on the sidelines.

Manager Diego Alonso spoke at a press conference yesterday and insisted that Araujo will only return when his body feels ready. And that is the message that the Uruguayan Federation conveyed to the journalist, saying that he will not be considered for selection until he has completed full recovery.

Araujo’s entourage is believed to be calm over the situation and the defender is fully focused on recovering totally. So, as things stand, the Barcelona ace is unlikely to participate in the group stages of the World Cup.