Man United receive transfer blow as Barcelona ready to ‘accept’ Chelsea offer in record-breaking deal for ‘incredible’ £100M star defender

Man United receive transfer blow as Barcelona ready to ‘accept’ Chelsea offer in record-breaking deal for ‘incredible’ £100M star defender

Ronald Araujo has been linked with both Chelsea and Manchester United.
Chelsea have dealt a knock-out blow on Man Utd in the race to sign Ronald Araujo with Barcelona giving his transfer to Stamford Bridge the ‘green light’, according to reports.

The Blues and the Red Devils are looking for a new centre-back in the summer transfer window with the two sides conceding 121 goals between them in the Premier League this season.

Chelsea sacked Mauricio Pochettino earlier this week as they look to change course and it now looks as if Man Utd have done the same with The Guardian reporting Ten Hag will be sacked following the FA Cup final on Saturday.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS are well on their way with plans for next season with Omar Berrada set to arrive as the new CEO in the summer and Jason Wilcox already coming in as technical director.

And there were rumours over the last week that they offered Bruno Fernandes – who has made it clear he wants to stay at Man Utd – plus cash for Barcelona centre-back Araujo in an effort to persuade Barcelona to sell.

But now Chelsea could be set to beat Man Utd to the Uruguay international with reports in Spain claiming that Barcelona president Joan Laporta and sporting director Deco have given the ‘green light’ for Araujo to join Chelsea.

Barcelona are ready to ‘accept the sale of a player valued at 100 million euros’ with Araujo one player on the ‘exit ramp’ after a ‘disappointing’ season at the Camp Nou.

The Catalan giants ‘will have to get rid of those players who do not fit into its future plans to reduce the squad’s salary bill’ and Araujo is in ‘pole position to become the club’s big sale.’

And now Barcelona have ‘received an offer close to 100 million euros (£85m) from Chelsea’ – which would be the biggest deal ever for a defender – and that ‘would solve a large part of the financial problems that the club has been facing for a few weeks’.

Barcelona announced earlier on Friday that Xavi will not continue as manager next season with the news coming just a month after the Spaniard reversed a decision to step down at the end of the season.

A statement read: “The president of FC Barcelona, ​​Joan Laporta, announced this afternoon to Xavi Hernandez that he will not continue as coach of the first team in the 2024-25 season.

“FC Barcelona would like to thank Xavi for his work as a coach, as well as his unparalleled career as a player and captain of the team, and wishes him all the luck in the world.