Ronald Araujo is facing a crucial decision which will shape his next few months and possibly those of the two teams closest to his heart, Uruguay and Barcelona.
After suffering a muscle avulsion during Uruguay’s tie with Iran on Friday, Araujo has been ruled out for a minimum of six weeks. The decision, which will be made on Monday, is whether he should have surgery or not.
#FCB 🔵🔴
📍 ¡Ronald Araujo llega a la Ciudad Deportiva del Barça!
⌛ En breve, cumbre para decidir si se opera
📹 @DBR8 pic.twitter.com/9mh1m9acHg
— Diario SPORT (@sport) September 26, 2022
Surgery tends to be the course of action most favoured in order to fix these issues, but it would cause him to be out longer in his recovery. With the Qatar World Cup less than two months away, Araujo faces a crucial decision as surgery would likely rule him out of the tournament.
The conservative treatment would be more or less allowing the injury to heal on its own, but puts Araujo at greater risk of a relapse.
According to Sport, the player is being pressured by Uruguay to follow a conservative treatment and try to be available for the World Cup. He was expected to be a key piece in the Uruguayan defence.
Of course Barcelona will likely be pressuring Araujo too, with each side representing their interests. For Barcelona, this is a particularly sore issue. Samuel Umtiti avoided surgery in order to be fit for the 2018 World Cup and never recovered to be the same player again due to constant fitness issues. The Frenchman, now on loan at Lecce, fits as a tale of caution for the Blaugrana.
