Over the past few months, Bayern Munich have been in relentless pursuit of Barcelona defender and third-captain Ronald Araujo.
The Bundesliga champions wanted to sign the Uruguayan international in January and were even willing to pay big for his acquisition, but nothing materialised.
Since then, it was reported that the Bavarians remain intent on Araujo’s signing and saw him as a priority for the summer.
Araujo no longer a priority
But it appears that things have changed as far as Bayern Munich and their pursuit of a new central defender are concerned.
Indeed, as per SPORT, Bayern have now made SL Benfica defender Antonio Silva their priority, moving on from Barcelona mainstay Araujo.
The Bavarians’ management was fixated on the Barça superstar for months now and they believed a move was possible more so after Xavi announced his decision to leave at the end of the season.
But the plans have apparently changed now, with new sporting director Max Eberl placing Silva at the top of the priority list at Säbener Straße.
Araujo going nowhere
Araujo staying put. (Photo by Yasser Bakhsh/Getty Images)
Despite the strong interest from Bayern Munich, Araujo has never thought about leaving Barcelona and confirmed that the fans do not have to worry about his future in a recent media interaction.
“I am very well, my family is very well, I am very well in Barcelona, I am very happy here, I have been here for almost five years and I show that every time I wear this shirt on the pitch and I will always do it, I am very happy to be here,” Araujo said.
Barcelona, for their part, have no plans of selling their captain either. Instead, the idea is to tie the Uruguayan centre-half down to a new long-term contract.
In fact, a meeting already took place between Araujo’s agents and Barça sporting director Deco, where they mutually reassured about continuing the partnership and decided to begin contract talks soon.
