Xavi threatened to quit if Barcelona agreed to €80 million sale of key defender in January

It is no secret that Bayern Munich were intent on signing Ronald Araujo from FC Barcelona during the January transfer window.

The Bundesliga champions were eager to strengthen their backline in the winter and had made the Barça captain their primary target, with manager Thomas Tuchel and director Christoph Freund pushing for the Uruguayan’s capture.

The move did not materialse though for various reasons, but a fresh report from The Athletic’s Raphael Honigstein has offered more details about the entire situation involving Barcelona, Bayern Munich, and Araujo.

Xavi threatened to resign if Araujo was sold

As mentioned earlier, the report reiterates that Araujo had been identified as the main target by Bayern Munich for the winter.

What’s more, the report even goes on to suggest that the Barcelona captain was open to making the switch to Bavaria in the January window.

Given the situation, the Bayern Munich management had given the green light to a €80 million move for the Uruguayan defender.

But, Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez became a hurdle in the Bavarians’ path. Indeed, as per the report, the 44-year-old told the Barça board that he would resign if Araujo was sold to Bayern, causing the move to fall through.

Xavi wanted to keep Araujo at all costs. (Photo by LLUIS GENE/AFP via Getty Images)

It must be noted that Xavi did announce his decision to leave Barça, but it came at a much later date in January by which point Bayern Munich had signed Eric Dier on a loan-to-buy deal from Tottenham Hotspur.

Bayern likely to return for Araujo in the summer

As has been reported already, despite failing in their pursuit of Araujo now, Bayern Munich are expected to return for the Barcelona defender in the summer transfer window.

Furthermore, it has also been suggested that the Blaugrana are expected to sell an important player in the summer for Financial Fair Play reasons.

It will be interesting to see whether that player ends up being Araujo, considering that he has been considered an ‘untouchable’ in the side.