Barcelona centre-back plan: Todibo out and Araujo in

It's no secret that Jean-Clair Todibo has failed to fully impress since joining Barcelona in January of 2019 and, with the club needing to raise funds in the upcoming markets, they plan to move the Frenchman on and promote Ronald Araujo from the B team.

Centre-back is the one position that the Catalan club haven't quite been able to nail down despite years of investing, and there remains interest in securing the club's future in this area.

Todibo arrived from Toulouse as the potential answer to that issue, yet hasn't been able to convince Ernesto Valverde that he is ready to play for the club.

After arriving midway through the 2018/19 season, the Frenchman was given time to settle and, in fairness, he did everything a club could ask of him, working hard during the summer and returning to pre-season training early.

Unfortunately, that just hasn't been enough and he has only played 77 minutes of senior football in the 2019/20 season to this point.

Several teams are interested in his services, with the frontrunners to sign him appearing to be Bayer Leverkusen, although there is some degree of trepidation towards a permanent deal within the Blaugrana's offices.

It's clear they believe he is a talented footballer who can improve, so there is a possibility that the club will reserve some kind of buy-back option on Todibo as part of any deal in the coming window.

Barcelona's technical department understand that with a significantly greater exposure to first-team football, the former Toulouse prodigy could become a much more valuable player.

The question of how the Cules will replace Todibo is one which already has an answer, with Araujo set to be promoted from the club's B team.

Barcelona aren't in a financial position to sign another senior defender right now, so will look to the 20-year-old Uruguayan to fill the gap left behind.

Araujo is seen as a player with a significant amount of potential and has had one senior appearance this season, although it didn't go that well given that he was sent off after coming on against Sevilla as a substitute.

For Barcelona, there is also the matter of Samuel Umtiti's recovery from his long-term knee problems, with the former Lyon defender having once been seen as Barcelona's most valuable defender.

Umtiti continues to work to regain his place in the team, however in the summer of 2020 it's obvious that Barcelona's technical staff are looking to recruit a central defender.