Ronald Araújo has listened to Barça in one of the toughest decisions of his football career. At the risk of missing the World Cup, the Uruguayan will undergo surgery to undergo surgery for the avulsion of the adductor longus tendon of the right thigh. He will do it on Wednesday in Turku (Finland) and the intervention will be led by the surgeon Lasse Lempainen, a doctor who has already operated three times on Dembélé and once on Sergi Roberto. The operation will also be supervised by Dr. Ricard Pruna, medical manager of the first team and one of those who advised him to undergo surgery.
The adductor break suffered by the Uruguayan in the thigh of his right leg during the 30 seconds he played in Uruguay's friendly against Iran last Friday is a serious setback. As La Vanguardia has learned, the Uruguayan could be out for more than two months. The setback is especially hard for Araújo, who sees his chances of playing in his first World Cup considerably reduced.
Precisely because of the fear of being able to miss the World Cup, Araújo was not in favor of having surgery and so he told his family as soon as he found out the extent of the injury. However, this morning he changed his mind after meeting with coach Xavi Hernández and Dr. Ricard Pruna at a medical summit in the sports city that lasted about an hour. There, the coach from Egar and Dr. Pruna, who always made it clear that he had the last word, made the center-back see that undergoing conservative treatment did not guarantee that he would not suffer the same injury again and that going through the operating room is In the long run, the best for him. He is 23 years old and has a whole football career ahead of him. They also reminded him of the case of Samuel Umtiti, who in 2018 preferred not to have surgery on his left knee to play the World Cup with France. He was champion but his ordeal of injuries did not stop.
Araújo, who finally decided to take on the operation, arrived at the meeting somewhat calmer after having talked on Sunday night with the coach Diego Alonso. The Uruguayan coach, who must announce his final list for the World Cup on November 14 at the latest, told him that he would wait for him until the last moment since he has serious problems in defense. Diego Godín is recovering from almost permanent knee discomfort and Giménez is not having much luck with injuries. Sebastián Coates also fell from this last concentration due to muscular discomfort. Even so, the national team is aware that, except for an unusual recovery, it is very difficult for Araújo to be ready on November 24 when Uruguay plays its first match against South Korea.
With this decision, Araújo, who will not play for Barça again until December 30 or 31 against Espanyol and who will miss 12 games, also says goodbye to a key month of October for the Blaugrana with the Clásico in sight scheduled for on October 16 at 4:15 p.m. and especially with the double duel against Inter Milan in the Champions League.
The absence of Araújo will not be the only one in defense during this month of October. To this setback we must add that of Jules Koundé, down for a month after ruling an injury to the femoral biceps of his left thigh in the game of the French team in the Nations League.
Memphis and Frenkie de Jong also underwent medical tests at the sports city, which ended with discomfort in the match that the Netherlands played against Poland. Both Dutchmen no longer played the second game against Belgium. Memphis, with a hamstring injury in his right thigh, will be out for three to four weeks. Less serious is the medical part of De Jong, who suffers from an elongation in his left thigh and will only be absent against Mallorca. The club, on the other hand, breathe easy with Dembélé, who trained in Barcelona yesterday after not playing the last game with France against Denmark as a precaution. Lewandowski and Christiansen also exercised normally.
