Over the past couple of days, there has been a lot of tension rising between FC Barcelona and the Uruguayan national team. The Catalan giants are reportedly unhappy with how the South American nation is handling Ronald Araujo’s recovery process and have even considered the possibility of going to FIFA on the matter.
The 23-year-old is currently on the recovery trail after injuring his thigh on international duty in September and undergoing surgery. It was initially reported that Araujo could be sidelined for at least two and a half months but despite that, he was named in the Uruguay squad for the World Cup.
While Araujo was not part of the matchday squad for the game against Saudi Arabia, he has been upping the intensity in training sessions. It led to Barça getting worried that Uruguay are pushing him to return earlier than anticipated and are concerned about an injury relapse.
It was also reported that the Blaugrana felt that the two club physios who have travelled with Araujo – Chechu Pérez and Jon Álvarez – to monitor his recovery, were being hindered by the national team.
But Uruguay have since clarified that they have not broken their pact with Barcelona and are not trying to rush Araujo back and the final decision will be made after consultation with everyone involved.
Despite that, Diario AS is reporting that Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez will be meeting with Araujo when he travels to Doha for his World Cup commitments over the next few days.
The Barça head coach had already confirmed that he would be in Qatar for ambassadorial engagements and will be watching a few matches and catching up with former associates from his time in the Asian country.
Now, a meeting with Araujo has also been added to the 42-year-old’s agenda as he hopes to help smooth things between Barcelona and Uruguay and ease some of the building tension.
Xavi will speak to the defender and remind him that he was given permission to travel to the World Cup only on the condition that he would not rush his return.
As things stand, Araujo is unlikely to play against Portugal and is a major doubt for Uruguay’s final group game against Ghana as well. With La Celeste drawing their opening game against South Korea, their qualification to the knockouts is also tricky.