Barcelona director explains failure to complete Julian Araujo transfer

Barcelona director Mateu Alemany has confessed that the paperwork to try and sign LA Galaxy defender Julian Araujo was submitted 18 seconds too late, leading the deal to collapse.

The Blaugrana had identified 21-year-old Araujo as a potential long-term solution to their issues at right-back and had struck a deal to bring the Mexico international in on loan with an option to buy at the end of the season.

A deal was expected to go through without any issues but, after the transfer window closed, there were immediate concerns that Araujo's move to Camp Nou may not have been finalised in time and that has since been confirmed to be the case.

"It's true that it could not be done due to a system error," Alemany said.

"It was 18 seconds. We will see what FIFA says."

Barcelona have not given up on completing a deal for Araujo, who they hope will join up with their reserve side for the remainder of the season, but will need special permission from FIFA after an appeal.

However, their failure to get a deal over the line means, as it stands, Barcelona did not sign a single new player during the January window - something Alemany has no concerns about.

"No one came, but we believe that we are fine with the squad we have," he explained. "It is true that three players left and no one arrived. We prioritise the registration of players like Gavi and now also [Ronald] Araujo, Marcos Alonso and Inaki Pena."

90min understands that there's still no final decision that's been made on the player's transfer. Both teams had lobbied to FIFA and were told they'd get an answer on Thursday, but look more likely to get an answer on Friday now instead.