Barcelona president ‘negotiating’ with Liverpool for £35m star to avoid ‘another Figo case’

Liverpool are reportedly ‘willing’ to put a bid in to sign Barcelona centre-back Ronald Araujo this summer as Joan Laporta looks to avoid ‘another Figo case’.

The Reds have already made four big signings this summer with Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong, Milos Kerkez and Hugo Ekitike joining Arne Slot’s outfit.

Slot has the full backing of the Liverpool board this summer after delivering the Premier League title in his first season at the club.

And there are rumours now that the summer could get even better for Liverpool after Alexander Isak appeared to become available, with the Sweden international telling Newcastle United that he wants to leave this summer.

There have been persistent rumours that the Reds are keen to sign Crystal Palace defender Marc Guehi too as they look for an extra centre-back to give Ibrahima Konate and Virgil van Dijk much-needed competition and support.

The Athletic‘s David Ornstein gave an update on Guehi last week with Liverpool keen to do a deal this summer but only “at the right price”.

READ: Mediawatch: Alexander Isak ‘complication removed’ amid ‘firm stance’ as deal basically done

Ornstein said: “We know Liverpool are keen on him at the right price. Reports today suggest Tottenham, who made a bid for him in January, don’t forget, are still in the mix too.

“I think Palace would be looking to cash in rather than face losing him for free next summer, but he’s got the power in his hands.

“He’s very happy at Crystal Palace, by the sounds of it, and I don’t think he’d be afraid to go to the end of his deal. It doesn’t seem like a new contract is on the agenda.

“And I think Marc Guehi, with total respect to Crystal Palace, is going to be playing at the very top of Champions League football, whether it’s sooner or later, and so, yeah, you suspect this is going to be one of the stories of the upcoming weeks of the transfer window.”

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And now Spanish website Defensa Central claims that Barcelona are giving Liverpool another option in central defence this summer as president Joan Laporta ‘doesn’t want another Figo case’.

They are of course referring to the summer of 2000 when Luis Figo infamously moved from Barcelona to Real Madrid and signalled the start of a new Galactico era at the Bernabeu under Florentino Perez.

And Laporta is ‘working to avoid a transfer that would be very painful for Barcelona’ and the Catalan giants ‘fear that he could end up at Real Madrid’.

The report adds: ‘This explains why Joan Laporta wants the player to go to another club, and in the Premier League there are several who are willing to put more than 40 million euros for the Uruguayan, among them Liverpool, who continues to throw the house out the window and this operation would be ideal to find a future replacement for Virgil van Dijk, who is already 34 years old.’

Laporta recently admitted that a sale of Araujo would be “painful”, the Barcelona president said: “A departure like Araújo’s? We’ll try to avoid painful departures. I won’t name any players, as they all belong to Barcelona and we’re happy with them all.

“Selling key players would make the team lose the spirit that has captivated the Barcelona fans. We want to preserve that spirit and that magic.”