Barcelona Sporting Director Deco has been unable to provide an update on the contract negotiations or situation of star players Ronald Araujo and Frenkie de Jong. He pleaded confidentiality regarding their cases.
Speaking about the renewals of Gavi and Pedri in the same interview, Deco was optimistic about their contracts being renewed as they ‘want to be here’. Both of their contracts are up in 2026, as is the case for de Jong and Araujo. However the discourse changed when it came to Araujo.
“The same. I always say that having Barca… But not in any old way but with the club in an important dynamic of growth, recovering the Barca that everyone respects in Europe, that has high-level players, that is competitive and that the players want to be here. The first thing of all is that the players want to be here, but for them to want to be there there is a job to do. We have to be competing at a high level, have quality work, have people on a daily basis who provide support at all levels… The players have to feel this,” he told MD.
“I think we are doing well and I imagine that Ronald wants to be part of what the next few years of Barca will be like, a Barca that will be fighting for all the titles, that will be winning, that will be there and I say the same thing again: I would like to be part of that if I were a player today. I think Ronald, more of the same. It is being worked on and at the right time it will be explained.”
Deco said he could not speak about the details of Araujo’s contract renewal.
“I don’t want to individualise the renewals because there are more players, it is a job that we are going to do day by day. We are working but for me the most important thing is that the players’ ideas are with ours. We know what we want but it always depends on the players. If the players want, things will work out.”
He was also quizzed on de Jong’s status.
“I say again, we do not have to individualise because otherwise we would only be talking about renewals. I think they will be done in due course. For me it is very clear. Apart from wanting to be there, the club also makes the decisions. But now is not the time to be worried about the renovations that are two years old, but rather we must first focus on what we have to do.”
It has been reported in the local press that de Jong has had an offer on the table for some time, but is yet to respond to it. Deco would not respond to that story either.
“But I can’t give information about everything we have because otherwise I would have to explain everything we are going to do every day. Player renewals, due to the way I work, are discreet and I don’t have to explain what I do with the agents out of respect because I wouldn’t like them to also go to the press to tell about the meetings they hold. In Frenkie’s case, it is a normal procedure. We have a player who has quality, who is of significant age, who can contribute a lot of things and within what can be done we are working on renewals.”
“I don’t want to individualise. In the end there is work, but I don’t want to prioritise things that are not the most important thing. And that is the day-to-day work we have to do. I don’t want to individualise because I think it’s not fair for the team and it’s not the time but work is being done. Of course we are working on them because they are players that we believe are important for the club, for the future and present project, but there are more important things.”
Recent reporting has been that Barcelona are more optimistic about retaining Araujo, who is enthused by the project that Hansi Flick is putting together. That does align with the central factors that Deco mentioned. With de Jong, the reporting has been mixed. Despite some claims he wants to remain at the club, the Blaugrana are pessimistic about a new deal being done, with no advances in talks.