Liverpool shirt numbers Ronald Araujo could wear as Hansi Flick says goodbye to £47m Barcelona defender

Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick has said goodbye to Ronald Araujo as the Uruguayan prepares to complete a surprise transfer to Liverpool.

Late on Friday evening, reports emerged claiming that Liverpool had agreed to sign Araujo on loan and will also possess the option to sign him permanently for around £47m at the end of the season.

Araujo will fly to Merseyside on Sunday to undergo his medical and sign his contract, having been persuaded to join the Reds by Andoni Iraola, who talked up his potential defensive partnership with Virgil van Dijk.

Araujo was naturally not involved in either of Barcelona's friendlies against Nottingham Forest or Udinese yesterday, as the Catalan giants prevailed 1-0 over the former and lost 1-0 to the latter.

Flick was quizzed on the centre-back's impending departure after the two friendlies, expressing regret at his inability to use Araujo more often due to a combination of factors.

Hansi Flick reveals Ronald Araujo Barcelona regret before Liverpool move

"Ronald is a good player and a good person. For me, he's a player with a lot of speed and physicality," Flick told journalists. “We haven't been able to include him as much as we would have liked."

Araujo played 38 times for La Blaugrana across all competitions last season, scoring four goals, but he started just 11 games in La Liga and another four in the Champions League.

The South American spent a couple of months away from the sport between November and January for mental health reasons, after receiving a red card in a 3-0 Champions League defeat to Chelsea, but he returned for the second half of the campaign.

Araujo boasts a total of 14 goals and seven assists in 213 appearances for Barcelona since joining from Boston River in 2018, and his Camp Nou contract does not expire until 2031.

Shirt numbers Ronald Araujo could wear at Liverpool

Ever since the start of the 2020-21 season, Araujo has proudly sported the number four shirt for both club and country, but the 27-year-old can forget about retaining the same jersey at Anfield.

Indeed, future centre-back partner Van Dijk has been in possession of Liverpool's '4' throughout his Merseyside career and will not be giving it up during what may be his final Reds campaign.

The traditional centre-back's '5' is also unavailable - Jeremy Jacquet has been bestowed with that shirt - but Liverpool also view Araujo as an emergency right-back option if Jeremie Frimpong, Joe Gomez and Conor Bradley are unavailable.

Gomez - currently injured - is also not guaranteed to stay at the club for next season, so the number two shirt could become available for Araujo, who will not be taking the '11' vacated by Mohamed Salah's departure.

In terms of available numbers, 13, 16, 24, 26, 27 and 29 are all up for grabs, as is the '32', made famous by Joel Matip during his eight-season stint at Anfield.