‘I owe him an apology’ – Pundit admits he got it badly wrong on ‘powerful’ Liverpool colossus
Below is a summary of the full article. Click here for the full version from Empire Of The Kop or go back to LFC Live.
It’s taken one Liverpool player just a couple of months to trigger a resounding volte-face from one pundit who’d written him off as a ‘desperate signing’.The Reds signed Ronald Araujo on a season-long loan from Barcelona in August and the Uruguay defender has immediately endeared himself to Kopites with his strong performances and his heart-on-his-sleeve demeanour.The 27-year-old was substituted at half-time in the 4-3 win over Villarreal on Tuesday night, but not before equalising for his side and scoring for the second Champions League game in succession.Deeney publicly apologises to AraujoSpeaking on CBS Sports Golazo after that match, Troy Deeney willingly acknowledged that he’d gotten it wrong with his initial verdict on Araujo when he joined Liverpool two months ago.The pundit said: “I have to give him credit, and I also have to pull myself up because I like to consider myself a fair individual. At the start of the season, when they signed him, I thought it was a desperate signing.
I’d seen him at Barcelona and again, he’s very aggressive, very front-footed.“I didn’t know whether his style of play would adjust to what Liverpool are trying to do, but since he’s been in at right-back and he has been amazing. Anyone who watched Barcelona last year, he didn’t give that because of the way Barcelona were playing, and obviously you can only judge based on what you’ve seen.“Yeah, I owe him an apology.
Very, very good; very impressive so far this season.” "I thought it was a desperate signing… I owe him an apology."@T_Deeney admits he was wrong on Ronald Araújo after the Liverpool defender's impressive start to the season 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/Q3Xc13axGh — CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) October 20, 2026Want more Empire of the Kop coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for news you can trustAraujo has been terrific for Liverpool so farFair dues to Deeney for having the humility to publicly admit his initial misjudgment on Araujo, having also praised the defender for his performance against Ipswich on his first Premier League start last month.The irony is that the former Watford striker voiced his apology to the Uruguayan on a night when he had one of his poorer games for Liverpool, having looked uncomfortable at right-back up against Alberto Moleiro.However, that 45-minute outing has been an exception to what has been a very strong start to life with the Reds for the 27-year-old, who further endeared himself to Kopites by jumping into the crowd to celebrate his equaliser against Villarreal.Players from overseas can often struggle to adapt to the physicality of the Premier League, but that hasn’t proven to be an obstacle for Araujo, with the figures below from Fotmob showing that he can more than hold his own in the physical stakes in the English top flight.