Some days he would go before training, others after training and there were days he went before and after training, but every day without fail Ronald Araújo would head to the bullring. He was 19, recently arrived in Spain, and what he wanted most was to fit in. The bullring is a small cage with portable metal panels on wheels, relentlessly receiving and returning endless passes, and it became his place. Because if everything was different, ask the Uruguayan to name the hardest thing about moving to Barcelona as a teenager 6,000 miles from home and his response is simple: “the ball”.
“Football happened fast,” Araújo says. “At 17, I was still in my little home town, playing for the local team, Huracán Rivera. At 17, I went to Montevideo on trial at Rentistas. I was in the under-19s for five months, got promoted to the seniors in the second division, then they transferred me to Boston River. From Rivera to Barcelona in two years; it was mad.
