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BARCELONA

Will Julián Araujo debut for Barcelona against Vissel Kobe?

The Mexican player will travel with the group to Japan for the exhibition tour and could make his Barcelona debut.

Mauricio Ruiz Fernández
MéxicoUpdate:
Julián Araujo tendría que buscar minutos fuera del Barcelona
Rodolfo MolinaDiarioAS

The wait, it seems, is over. Julián Araujo, Barcelona’s Mexican defender, will finally have the opportunity to get his first minutes with the team. If all goes to plan, he will feature in the game against Vissel Kobe, the Japanese club and where the Catalan legend, Andrés Iniesta, plies his trade.

The blaugrana head coach, Xavi Hernández, included the recent signing in the list of players called up to make the trip to Asia: the game is set to take place on Tuesday, June 6, at the National Stadium of Japan. It will be the first time in four years that Barça have set foot in Asia.

Which Barça players could play against Vissel Kobe?

The squad that will make the trrip to Tokyo is made up of 23 players, with the main eyebrow-raisers being the presence of the young Mexican and the absence of the two culé icons: Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba, who announced their departure from the club during the past week.

The squad is as follows: Ter Stegen, O. Dembélé, Lewandowski, Ansu Fati, Ferran, Iñaki Peña, Christensen, Marcos A., Kessie, S. Roberto, F. De Jong, Raphinha, Koundé, Eric, Gavi, Pablo Torre, Arnau Tenas, Unai, Marco Guiu, Paz Delgado, Dani R, Julián Araujo and Héctor Fort.

The man born in Lompoc, California, joined Barcelona for €4 million in the final seconds of the winter transfer market in 2023. However, due to the delay in signing the contractual papers, he was not granted permission to be an active player in LaLiga, nor in any of the youth levels at Barça. Now the wait might just be over.

The 21-year-old professional has been disabled since January to date, but he has been seen in various sessions and training sessions led by the former Spanish midfielder. Similarly, the Mexican-American appeared at the celebrations for the title of the local contest, season 2022-2023, as well as in the official photo of the champion.

Finally, the arrival of the former Galaxy player to the Barcelona team was possible due to the request of the strategist from Tarrasa, Spain. Likewise, the project is for the right-back to work, mainly, in the Barcelona Athletic squad, under the orders of his compatriot Rafael Márquez Álvarez.