Barcelona have announced that defender Ronald Araujo had undergone a successful surgery on Wednesday morning.

As previously announced by the club, the operation of the thigh injury was done in Turku, Finland.

Barcelona said that the 23-year-old recovery will determine his return date.

Araujo suffered the injury last week Friday in a friendly match for his country against Iran and was replaced in the 5th minute of the first half by Hertha Berlin’s Agustin Rogel.

The Uruguayan, a key Barca player has made 7 appearances in all competition for Barcelona this term and 89 overall since arriving from Boston River, a club in his home country.

Reacting to surgery news, Uruguayan coach Diego Alonso said he is optimistic that Araujo can still play in the world cup for his country and will wait till the very end.

“Logically, we wouldn’t have liked him to get injured, but we are excited and very positive that he can make it to the World Cup.

“We will wait for his recovery because all the doctors told us can still make it to the world cup.

“The recovery time, if he had decided to recover more conservatively or with surgery, are more or less similar.

“We need to see the evolution, wait for him, and know if he will be there or not for the World Cup. We believe so.

“I told Ronald in private, I’m going to wait for him. We believe on a medical level that he has clear options to reach the World Cup. We await the evolution.

“We have the illusion that he can arrive. I am going to wait for the 26 [players] that I have in my head until the end.”