Ronald Araujo's defensive displays at right-back have become a key factor in Liverpool's unbeaten start to the season, raising the question of a permanent £47m move.
The Uruguay international joined the Reds on loan from Barcelona in August and has been impressing for Andoni Iraola's side. Although Araujo may prefer starting games at centre-back, his interpretation of the full-back position has helped address a problem area that blighted the team last term.
Solving the right-back conundrum
Prior to his serious knee injury at Arsenal in January, Conor Bradley, Jeremie Frimpong and Joe Gomez were all deployed at right-back before Dominik Szoboszlai was played there more than he would have liked. Wataru Endo's one Premier League start last season was at right-back against Sunderland, and midfielder Curtis Jones ended his Reds career in that unfamiliar role, illustrating the chronic difficulties.
In many ways, Liverpool have been made to try and replace the irreplaceable in Trent Alexander-Arnold. The long-term view is that Bradley will be given the time and space to make the position his own once he is back fit again. The Northern Ireland international remains some way off, it is believed, but his brand of aggression and athleticism is viewed as the ideal blend at right-back given Alexander-Arnold's peerless passing range cannot really be replicated.
Van Dijk and Flick praise Araujo
For now, it is Araujo whose defence-first approach is helping a team that has kept three successive Premier League clean sheets for the first time since the start of the title-winning campaign of 24/25. "He is a great player," club captain Virgil van Dijk said after the 1-0 win before the international break. "I don't think he was the captain of Barcelona for no reason. He is a fantastic player. He is not a natural right-back but he has filled in the best way possible and I am pleased for him."
Araujo's arrival came with some caveats given how the second half of his Barcelona season went last time out. He was given time off in November after a red card in a Champions League defeat to Chelsea saw him singled out for criticism online. "A private situation," was how Barca boss Hansi Flick described it at the time after the defender had requested time off to "take care of himself emotionally".
He returned to the fold in January and captained the side in a 2-1 win at Albacete in the Copa del Rey. "I think Ronald is a great guy and a fantastic player," Flick said in August. "I saw him this morning and I said goodbye and I think he was very happy and Liverpool is also a fantastic club. I wish him all the best because he deserves it."
Leadership and a potential permanent deal
One of the criticisms levelled at Liverpool has been an absence of leaders beyond Van Dijk and Alisson Becker. The departures of Andy Robertson and Mohamed Salah at the end of last season were viewed as a further drain on leadership resources, and the addition of Araujo aimed to counteract that given his status as Barca skipper, his age of 27 and his experience with the Uruguay national side.
Iraola has challenged the defender with improving his English to get across his messages to team-mates. Such was Araujo's determination to kick-start a career that had started to flatline at Barca that he took a pay-cut to move to Anfield, which impressed those looking to bring him on board.
With Liverpool's key decision-makers locked in talks over an eventual £123m deal for Bradley Barcola at the time, a short-term, cost-effective move for someone of Araujo's pedigree was deemed to be something of a no-brainer. It remains very early days but Araujo is seemingly bucking the relatively recent trend of loan deals - Arthur Melo, Ozan Kabak, Aly Cissokho, Victor Moses - that have fallen flat at Anfield. It might be some time yet before Liverpool decide that Araujo is a £47m option worth taking, but the early weeks of the defender's time on Merseyside have certainly been encouraging.
