Barcelona signed Mexican defender Julian Araujo from MLS side LA Galaxy in a deal until 2026, both clubs confirmed on Friday.
Barcelona missed out on signing Araujo on transfer deadline day as they were 18 seconds late in registering the paperwork, and said they would appeal to Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in a bid to get the player registered.
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Araujo has signed a 3-1/2-year contract until the end of the 2025-26 season, Barcelona said, adding that the 21-year-old will join the club's B team.
The Galaxy will retain a sell-on percentage of the transfer fee if Araujo is sold to another club.
📌 Acuerdo con LA Galaxy para el traspaso de 𝗝𝘂𝗹𝗶𝗮́𝗻 𝗔𝗿𝗮𝘂𝗷𝗼
— Barça Atlètic (@FCBarcelonaB) February 17, 2023
✍ El jugador se incorpora al #BarçaAtlètic y firma hasta el 30 de junio del 2026
🔗 https://t.co/hZapgV8E1S
🙌 ¡Bienvenido, @julian__araujo !#ForçaBarça 💙❤ pic.twitter.com/r9vFXNJl3P
Araujo arrived in Barcelona on Thursday to begin training with the Catalan club while he awaits a decision from CAS to see if he can play this season, sources told ESPN. In their statement, Barcelona did not say when Araujo would be available to feature for the club.
Despite that uncertainty, LA Galaxy coach Greg Vanney told ESPN that the right-back won't be loaned back to the five-time MLS Cup winners.
"It's not even a possibility. It's a relatively complicated situation because the registration didn't go through on the Barcelona side," he said.
"So he is a Barcelona player. There's not a loan possibility that's even there. So he's a Barcelona player and he will go there and start to train, get acclimated, start to get used to their environment and start to move forward."
Araujo, who joined LA Galaxy in March 2019, registered two goals and 20 assists in 108 games played across all competitions with the MLS club.
Born in California, he was eligible to play for both the United States and Mexico. After playing for U.S. youth teams, he made his only appearance for the senior team in December 2020 against El Salvador.
In 2021, he requested for FIFA to approve his switch to represent Mexico, making his debut later in December in a friendly 2-2 draw against Chile.
Information from ESPN's Jeff Carlisle and Reuters was used in this report.