{"id":7074,"date":"2026-05-11T06:31:45","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T06:31:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=7074"},"modified":"2026-05-11T06:31:45","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T06:31:45","slug":"man-utd-join-chelsea-and-spurs-in-making-first-contacts-to-sign-69m-rated-fullback-who-could-replace-shaw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=7074","title":{"rendered":"Man Utd Join Chelsea And Spurs In Making First &#8216;Contacts&#8217; To Sign \u00a369M Rated Fullback Who Could Replace Shaw"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p><em>This article contains affiliate links. We may earn a small commission on items purchased through this article, but that does not affect our editorial judgement.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Man Utd are among the clubs who have made \u201cexploratory contacts\u201d about signing Sporting Lisbon left-back Maxi Araujo, according to reports in the Portuguese media.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>BALL<\/em> claim that the Red Devils, Chelsea and Tottenham have joined Atletico Madrid and Juventus in pursuing the Uruguayan international ahead of the summer transfer window.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sra_unit\"><link rel=\"stylesheet\" id=\"block-sra\" href=\"https:\/\/manunews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/snack-related-articles\/dist\/css\/snack-related.min.css?230424-120838\" type=\"text\/css\" media=\"all\"\/>\n<aside class=\"sra-group sra-related-list\">\n<h2 class=\"sra-group-head\">Most Read on ManUNews.com<\/h2>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<p>Araujo has an \u20ac80m (\u00a369m) release clause in his contract, and due to the sheer amount of interest in the player, Sporting are minded to hold out for that fee.<\/p>\n<p>However, a lot depends on how many teams actually make formal approaches for the 26-year-old at the end of the season. Currently, only enquiries have been lodged.<\/p>\n<h2>Why are Man Utd interested in the defender?<\/h2>\n<p><smartframe-embed customer-id=\"0fab81ce12e48a0794275e1d82449fb1\" image-id=\"1077242527\" style=\"width: 100%; display: inline-flex; max-width: 100%;\"\/><!-- https:\/\/smartframe.io\/embedding-support --><br \/>Director of Football Jason Wilcox has made signing a left-back one of his three priorities for the summer, along with a central midfielder and a <strong>left winger<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Araujo could be a solution for two positions. He would provide stiff competition for Luke Shaw, having played most of his minutes on the left side of a back four for Sporting this campaign.<\/p>\n<p>However, the Uruguayan can also be deployed further up the pitch as a winger, much like Patrick Dorgu, so his positional flexibility makes him an attractive target.<\/p>\n<p>Buy Man Utd tickets from Viagogo here<\/p>\n<h2>Another club is the favourite to sign Araujo<\/h2>\n<p><em>BALL<\/em> report that Atletico are currently \u201cahead in the race\u201d for the player, with the La Liga side\u2019s manager, Diego Simeone, said to be a big fan, but a lot will hinge on who is able to agree a transfer fee with Sporting.<\/p>\n<p>Considering what Araujo could offer United, in terms of his ability to play multiple roles, this is definitely a transfer story to keep a close eye on over the coming days and weeks.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Want more news on Man Utd? Add Man U News as a preferred source on Google<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This article contains affiliate links. We may earn a small commission on items purchased through&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7075,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}