Barcelona have made contact with Wojciech Szczesny as they explore possible options to replace injured first-choice goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Ter Stegen, 32, ruptured a patellar tendon in his right knee against Villarreal on Sunday. On Monday, Barcelona confirmed he had undergone a successful operation on the area, and there are fears he will miss the remainder of the 2024-25 season.
The club are targeting an experienced goalkeeper to offer competition for Inaki Pena, who has deputised for Barcelona in Ter Stegen’s absence, and Szczesny would initially come in as understudy to the La Masia graduate.
Szczesny announced his retirement from professional football at the age of 34 in August.
He left Juventus in the summer after he and the club mutually agreed to terminate his contract one year early. Juventus had been in discussions to sell the former Poland international to Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr earlier in the window but negotiations broke down.
Pena replaced Ter Stegen following his injury against Villarreal. The game was his first competitive outing for Barcelona since the 3-1 La Liga win at Alaves in February.
Pena, 25, made 17 appearances for Barcelona last season with the majority of those coming amid a two-month injury absence for Ter Stegen around the turn of the year.
Pena came on for Ter Stegen against Villarreal (Jose Miguel Fernandez/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Speaking during Tuesday’s press conference, Hansi Flick said Pena was ready to step up.
“Inaki Pena is totally ready to play,” he said. “He has been totally focused in training, sometimes it is not easy being a second choice goalkeeper. But we have full confidence in him to play.
“We also have to see what we will do. We will discuss it internally later today because in the defence and goalkeeping areas we have very young players. We have to take care of that, but I feel we are not under pressure by now as we are really confident with Inaki.”
Beyond Pena, Barcelona’s other goalkeeping options are relatively young and inexperienced. There is 18-year-old Diego Kochen, but he is sidelined with a hamstring injury, leaving 20-year-old Ander Astralaga as Pena’s back-up. Barcelona also have 18-year-old Aron Yaakobishvili in their goalkeeping ranks.
Barcelona have struggled to register new signings because of La Liga’s rules on salary spending, but the competition body’s rules do allow clubs to temporarily register replacements for injured players. Barca have already taken advantage of this twice this season — with Dani Olmo and Inigo Martinez (following injuries to Ronald Araujo and Andreas Christensen) — and Ter Stegen’s injury gives them another opportunity to do this.
Szczesny played for Arsenal, Roma and Juventus and won 11 major trophies across a senior professional career spanning 15 years.
He was capped 84 times by Poland and played in two of his side’s three games at Euro 2024.
Announcing his retirement on Instagram, he said his heart was no longer in it and it was right time to start spending more time with his family.
GO DEEPER
Marc-Andre ter Stegen is out for the season – so what’s Barcelona’s plan?
(Top photo: Valerio Pennicino/Getty Images)
