The Mexican Julián Araujo, to defend the peasants in the US behind Barcelona

The Mexican soccer player Julián Araujo, during his presentation with FC Barcelona, ​​this Friday. SARA GORDON (FC BARCELONA)

When Julián Araujo returned home after training, his father was exhausted at home.

Jorge Araujo spent almost endless days working in the fields of Lompoc, in California.

There was practically no contact between father and son due to routine.

Jorge left Guanajuato at the age of 15 to cross the border and settle in the US with minimal working conditions and without papers.

Along with Guadalupe, his wife, they remained stoic to form a family with three children.

Little Julián decided to play soccer, the king of sports in Mexico.

He started in the children's leagues until he broke into a Barça academy.

The Catalan team had a small version of La Masia in Arizona.

The viewers attracted Araujo and even offered him to travel to Barcelona to enter the historic soccer player factory.

The winger, however, continued his training in the US until the MLS Galaxy signed him in 2018.

With that, he opened the doors in the youth teams of the United States.

The Mexican memory was at home with his parents, who made the work in the strawberry field the basis for him to progress and also became a flag for Julián Araujo.

"It was working all day bent over," Jorge Araujo told Telemundo.

Araujo has supported the farmer community in Lompoc during the hardest months of the pandemic and has raised his voice to demand more labor rights.

"He says that when he has more chances,

Araujo, now 21 years old, made his debut in the First Division in the United States in 2019. There he met other Mexicans such as Jonathan Dos Santos and Javier

Hernández.

At the same time, he continued to climb the steps in the US teams and came to play in the qualifiers for the Tokyo Olympics.

In 2021, the Mexican Federation began to attract Araujo.

First of all, Tata Martino had to be convinced to give him a chance and, in a friendly against Chile in Texas, he played 90 minutes.

He would play another full match in the Nations League and his first official match was against Panama in the qualifiers.

For the World Cup in Qatar, Martino did without him along with other promising Mexicans such as Santiago Giménez (Feyenoord) and Diego Lainez (Tigres).

In the transfer market this winter, Barcelona tried to sign the Mexican, but did so at the last minute.

So much so that the footballer's pass was late 18 seconds after closing time.

Barcelona said that it was a computer error and appealed the decision before the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

This Friday, Barcelona has made his arrival official for the next three and a half seasons, that is, until June 2026, the year in which the World Cup will be played in the US, Mexico and Canada.

Araujo will first join the Barcelona subsidiary, Barça Atlètic, led by his compatriot Rafa Márquez.

“It is a dream come true, I would like to be an example for future generations.

These weeks have been long, but I'm here now, in the best team in the world", Araujo commented this Friday.

The Mexican, with pink-tinged hair, joins the small group of compatriots who have come to Barcelona as the brothers Dos Santos and Márquez.

The signing of Julián Araujo means, so far, a triumph for the Mexican-American community in world soccer.

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