Barcelona will demand “more than” €100m (£85m) for Manchester City target Ronald Araujo, according to Mundo Deportivo.
Reports in the Spanish press last week had suggested that the Uruguayan international is being pursued by the Cityzens.
TV programme El Chiringuito claimed that Araujo had received “three offers”, one from Pep Guardiola’s side, as well as two more from Manchester United and Newcastle.
Mundo Deportivo don’t mention City in their article but they do name Bayern Munich and Chelsea as other potential suitors.
Ferdinand is a big fan of Araujo
Speaking back in December about the defender, TNT Sports pundit Rio Ferdinand suggested that Araujo possessed the potential to be a world-class player but he questioned why he would want to join his former team Manchester United:
“If I’m a player like Ronald who I think has every attribute to be one of the best defenders in the world, why are you going United?”
“I’d be looking at Varane and going if he can go to Manchester United and get benched for a left-back, or for an old veteran like Jonny Evans an ex-player who has come back for his twilight years and someone who used to be captain who was left out for 18 months but is back in form now and is playing, I can’t go there and risk my life and risk my career.”
City won’t spend that much on a centre-back
Araujo’s price tag is sizeable but that’s not the only reason that the Premier League champions are unlikely to pursue his signature.
Guardiola already has five centre-halves, with Ruben Dias, Manuel Akanji, John Stones, Nathan Ake and Josko Gvardiol in his squad. You would think that one of those would have to leave first before they would spend a substantial sum on someone like Araujo.
