Mexico defender Julian Araujo will arrive in Barcelona on Thursday to start training with the Catalan club while he awaits a resolution from the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to decide if he can play this season, a source confirmed to ESPN.
LA Galaxy and Barca struck an agreement in January for the right-back to join the LaLiga side. The transfer was completed but the paperwork required for Araujo to be registered with his new club missed FIFA’s deadline by 18 seconds.
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Barca blame a computer error for the delay in processing the documentation and have appealed FIFA’s decision to CAS.
In the meantime, Araujo’s contract with Barca is active. The Mexico international — who was previously capped by the United States — will fly to the city on Thursday and the plan is for him to train with the club’s B team, who play in the Spanish third tier, pending a resolution.
It remains unclear what will happen if CAS do not rule in Barca’s favour.
One option is for him to train until the summer without the chance of playing any football until next season, while LA Galaxy manager Greg Vanney told ESPN last week the organisation remain in discussions with the defender about possibly being loaned back.
“There are some tricky pieces to this,” Vanney said. “We have to continue to consider ourselves in moving forward. At the same time, we want to be able to help Jules out and give him the best opportunity to keep moving forward as well.”
Araujo, 21, has signed for Barca in a deal that is complicated in structure but could eventually be worth around €4 million to the Galaxy.
While he will start with Barca’s reserve team, the idea is for him to be around the first team if and when needed. Xavi Hernandez’s side are without a natural right-back after Hector Bellerin joined Sporting Club in January.
Defender Jules Kounde is playing there but the Frenchman prefers to play at centre-back. Sergi Roberto, Ronald Araujo and Alejandro Balde have also played the role this season.