Agents for defender Ronald Araujo were seen meeting with Barcelona’s sporting director, Deco, to discuss the player’s situation at the club.
The defender has not featured for the team since his sending-off in the Champions League match against Chelsea last week. He missed the win against Alavés and will also be unavailable for the midweek match against Atlético Madrid.
Barcelona coach Hansi Flick simply stated that Araujo’s absence from the Atlético Madrid game was due to “personal reasons” and asked the media to respect the player’s wishes.
Araujo was reportedly “very affected” by his red card, and according to Mundo Deportivo and Sport, “his agents asked the club for some time to recover mentally and psychologically from this stressful situation.”
The club reportedly agreed to the request “because they believe this is best for the player to regain his mental and emotional well-being.”
There is no information yet on how long Araujo will be absent, with the report indicating that his leave request is “indefinite.”
Barcelona president Joan Laporta has already offered his support to Araujo, saying that the criticism he has received is “unfair” and that the club “stands by him.”
