Manchester United join Bayern Munich in race for €70 million-rated Barcelona captain

FC Barcelona defender and third captain Ronald Araujo has been heavily linked with a move to Bayern Munich in recent weeks.

The 24-year-old Uruguayan international has emerged as a key target for the Bavarians’ manager Thomas Tuchel and their director Christoph Freund.

While the Bundesliga champions were open to shelling out a big sum for Araujo in the current transfer window, a move now is off the table. But they remain keen on the centre-half for the summer transfer window and would be willing to even shell out €100 million for him.

Manchester United enter race

However, Bayern Munich are not alone in their pursuit of Barcelona’s Ronald Araujo as Manchester United have emerged as an interested party.

Indeed, as per reports from Sky Sports Germany (h/t iMiaSanMia), Manchester United have also shown an interest in signing Araujo from Barcelona.

The report suggests that the Premier League club have even made enquiries for the Uruguayan international, whose current market value stands at €70 million.

Even though he endured one of his worst outings as a Barça player last night against Real Madrid, the defender remains a top player with age on his side, and as such, the interest in his services is not surprising.

As things stand, a winter move for Araujo, be it to Manchester United or Bayern Munich, appears extremely unrealistic.

However, he remains the German champions’ top target for next summer while the Red Devils would likely go hard for his signing as well.

Araujo wants to stay at Barcelona

Despite the growing interest, Araujo is very happy at Barcelona and wants to stay put at the club where he has grown into a top player.

The 24-year-old recently admitted to being completely focused on Barça and is eager to succeed further at the club.

As for the Blaugrana, they see Araujo as one of the few untouchable players at the club for whom no offers will be entertained.