Barcelona set shocking deal conditions for Manchester United in any future Ronald Araujo deal | OneFootball

Manchester United have reportedly been told the conditions necessary for a deal to be done for Barcelona defender Ronald Araujo.

The Uruguayan defender has been linked with a move to Old Trafford for around two years and noise around a potential move has risen over the last couple of weeks.

This is probably due to the fact that United’s defence has been incredibly porous all season with 51 goals being shipped in the Premier League alone.

This has been due to a toxic combination of poor form, injuries and kamikaze tactics from the manager.

Jarrad Branthwaite, Jean-Clair Todibo and Gleison Bremer have all been frequently linked to a move to Manchester but rumours around Ronald Araujo continue to heat up in Spain.

It has previously been reported that Barcelona’s board had been split on the idea of selling the defender but his red card in the Champions League quarter-final against Paris Saint-Germain and the Catalan club’s economic woes have meant that there is a greater chance the player will exit the club this summer.

It has also been suggested that United are so keen on the player that they will blow transfer rivals Bayern Munich out of the water to acquire his services.

TEAMtalk have added more fuel to the transfer fire by claiming that Barcelona are willing to do a deal with United for Araujo as long as two conditions are met.

“Ratcliffe now intends to open talks with Barcelona over a potential deal and would, be open to his sale if the price is right.

“However, as part of the negotiations, it’s claimed Barcelona would like to two conditions to be met. Firstly they want 75% of whatever fee is agreed for the player to be paid upfront – a factor United could use to try and drive his price down.

“And secondly, it’s suggested the Liga giants want first refusal to sign Bruno Fernandes if ever United decided to let their captain move on.”

Whilst it is very interesting, there are a couple of problems with the idea. In a summer where United have numerous holes to fix and a limited budget due to PSR rules, it is hard to imagine the club will be able to fork over such a lump sum for one player.

In addition, it is highly improbable that United would consider selling their star player despite rumours to the contrary this week.

And even if they did, they would hardly promise him to one club as that would defeat the whole purpose of creating an auction for the player, so they could at least be hypothetically properly compensated for losing their talismanic captain.

What is clear is that Barcelona are not sure they can afford to keep Araujo as the cacophony from Spain only continues to grow. The deal will certainly be one to keep an eye on as spring turns into summer.

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