Liverpool sign Barcelona centre-back in loan transfer with an option to buy

Fabrizio Romano has announced that an agreement has been reached between Barcelona and Liverpool for the loan signing of centre-back Ronald Araujo.

🚨🚨💣 EXCLUSIVE: Liverpool agree loan deal to sign Ronald Araujo from Barcelona, HERE WE GO! 🇺🇾

Verbal agreement club to club with Barça now approved by director Deco.

New centre back for #LFC with a surprise bomba. pic.twitter.com/kK4GIifmff

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 7, 2026

The Uruguayan centre-back will join the club for one year, and there is an option to buy within the contract, which is completely up to Liverpool at the end of the loan period.

🚨🇺🇾 More on the exclusive story of the day: Ronald Araujo will join Liverpool, it’s all done and documents being signed in 24h.

The loan agreement includes a BUY OPTION clause, up to #LFC as it’s NOT mandatory.

Barcelona already gave green light. 🔴✈️ pic.twitter.com/6L4ufpDR9G

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 7, 2026

The news comes as fans feared that Liverpool would enter the season with an extremely thin squad in defence as no senior centre-back played on the US Tour and returned fit. New signing Jeremy Jacquet has yet to play a minute in pre-season due to some knocks and recovery from pre-existing injuries.

Who is Ronald Araujo?

Ronaldo Araujo is a 27-year-old centre-back who has played 27 times for Uruguay, although was not part of the World Cup squad due to a muscular injury.

Araujo joined Barcelona in 2018 at the age of 19 for just over £4 million. He has consistently played more than 30 games a season for Barcelona, with the 2024/25 season being the only time that he hasn’t since 2020.

This season he played 24 games in La Liga, plus 10 in the Champions League and four others in cups. Across the season, he scored four goals, including three in his 24 La Liga games.