Barcelona captain’s fall from grace: Carles Puyol’s heir edging toward a Ousmane Dembélé-like exit – Opinion | OneFootball

FC Barcelona are preparing for the Spanish Super Cup final where they will be facing Real Madrid in what is a mouth-watering clash. Even as Hansi Flick continues to prepare for a game that would give him his first silverware as the club’s coach, there is something going on behind the scenes.

No, we are not talking about the registration issues surrounding Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor. The duo has been given temporary permission to feature in the Super Cup final by the CSD and that is one less issue for Flick to worry about.

The issue that is surrounding Barcelona right now is the future of Ronald Araújo. Italian giants Juventus have expressed interest in signing the Uruguayan defender and so have Arsenal and it does increasingly look like the player could end up leaving Barcelona.

Ronald Araújo is one of the captains at Barcelona but he has not featured much this season due to an injury that he suffered during the Copa America back in the summer. He made his season debut recently against UD Barbastro and played the entire game.

In his absence, the duo of Pau Cubarsí and Iñigo Martínez have established themselves as first-choice for Hansi Flick in that position and the Uruguayan will have to fight his way back into the team to prove he deserves to start ahead of one of them.

However, it does look like Araújo is not willing to step up to the fight and would rather leave the club. With his contract expiring in 2026 and him not seemingly putting pen to paper on a new contract, the onus is on Barcelona to make the sale happen to avoid losing him for free.

Should Ronald Araújo leave Barcelona in the coming days, it would mark the end of a chapter at Barcelona that was filled with false dreams. The Uruguayan was expected to become a club legend here and the captain-in-making.

For very long, whenever Araújo played on the pitch, he bled Blaugrana. Despite not having come through the academy like a few others, the Uruguayan did not let that stop his admiration for the club and much like Raphinha now, he was adored by the fans.

However, in the last 12 months, something seems to have changed with respect to Araújo. It all started in the game against PSG in the Champions League quarter-finals last season when he was sent-off and copped a lot of criticism from fans as Barcelona got knocked out.

Ever since the connection between the club and the player seems to have vanished into thin air and now, it feels like it all could come to an end. One expected him to be the next Carlos Puyol at the club but his legacy could end up being akin to that of Ousmane Dembélé.

Araujo is currently 25 years old and everyone will admit that, when fit, he is one of the best in his position in the world. Injuries have let him down big time but at his age, he is still very much a force to reckon with in the long run.

Comparing Ronald Araújo’s stats from last season to Pau Cubarsí and Iñigo Martínez this season (Source: DataMB)

Stats clearly depict Araújo has something in his arsenal that both Iñigo and Cubarsí necessarily don’t. The Uruguayan center-back excels in aerial duels and is a throwback to the old-school defender but is not as good as the Spanish duo with the ball at his feet.

In the long run, one would have assumed that Araújo and Cubarsí could have been a defining partnership for Barcelona as the two complement each other very well. The former can make up for the latter’s lack of aerial presence and the latter can take care of the ball distribution.

It is still not 100% that Ronald Araújo is going to leave Barcelona but it does increasingly look that way. As much as fans would not have wanted it to end this way, there seems to be only one path that this transfer saga is headed down.

If Araújo were to leave Barcelona today, it would go down as a chapter in Barcelona’s history that had massive potential but would end up as one with a lot of regrets. Let’s wait and see how it plays out going forward.