24-year-old Barcelona prodigy set to become new captain next season

After a successful campaign in La Liga, Barcelona are preparing for several major changes heading into the next season.

Indeed, the Blaugrana are set to part with two of their current club captains and legends Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba at the end of the ongoing campaign.

Busquets had already announced his decision to leave Barça earlier this month while the news of Alba’s departure broke just a while ago.

With two pillars of the club set to move on, it is bound to leave big holes in the roster for manager Xavi Hernandez, especially in the leadership group. After all, Busquets and Alba were two of the club captains this season.

Amidst news of their departure, Toni Juanmarti (via Reshad Rahman), is reporting that Ronald Araujo will become one of the captains at Barcelona next season.

With Busquets’ exit, Sergi Roberto will be promoted to the position of the first captain. Alba, who was the third captain would have taken the versatile right-back’s spot.

But he is also leaving, which means fourth captain Marc-Andre ter Stegen would become the second skipper. It leaves two vacant slots in the leadership group for Barcelona and Juanmarti is claiming that one of those spots will certainly be occupied by Araujo.

The 24-year-old has shown that he is ready to take the leadership mantle, having grown into one of the most crucial players for Xavi at the club.

The Uruguayan international has shown his leadership qualities on the pitch on several occasions and handing him the armband would be nothing short of deserved.

Apart from Araujo, Robert Lewandowski could be another contender while Frenkie de Jong might also be an option after he led the team for a while against Real Valladolid last night.

The equation could change if Lionel Messi were to return to Barcelona though as he would likely be made the first captain in that scenario, with Roberto continuing as the second captain, ter Stegen being the third skipper and Araujo or someone else getting named as the fourth.