Barcelona captain remains the priority target for Bayern Munich for the summer

Throughout the January transfer window, Bayern Munich attempted to make a move for Barcelona defender and third captain Ronald Araujo, but to no avail.

However, heading into the summer, the Bundesliga champions have not forgotten about the Uruguayan international and continue to hold an interest in him.

Araujo remains Bayern Munich’s priority

In fact, as per Joaquim Piera of SPORT, Barcelona mainstay Araujo remains the priority target for Bayern Munich to reinforce their defence in the summer transfer window.

However, they have identified PSG captain Marquinhos as Plan B in case their pursuit of the Barça superstar fails yet again.

Manager Thomas Tuchel and director Christoph Freund have been the main driving force behind Bayern Munich’s interest in Araujo.

And now that it has been confirmed that Tuchel will leave the club at the end of the season, it will be interesting to see whether that changes things with regard to their pursuit of the Uruguayan international.

For now, though, he continues to remain their priority target to reinforce the backline.

Araujo is not for sale

Araujo is not for sale. (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images)

Earlier this month, Barcelona sporting director Deco met with the agents of Araujo – Edmundo Kabchi and Edoardo Crnjar – during which the matter of his future was discussed.

Barcelona made it absolutely clear that even though they need player sales in the summer, Araujo will not be offloaded by the club.

The agents, for their part, also reaffirmed to Deco that the defender is happy at the club and does not wish to leave.

Groundwork was laid for the two parties to begin negotiations over a new deal for the Uruguayan.

As such, despite Bayern’s continued strong interest, it appears extremely unlikely that Araujo will be leaving Barcelona in the summer.