Several Barça players have spoken personally to Hans-Dieter Flick to lift the punishment on a player who has lost his starting role in recent weeks, despite his good performance.
Because since arriving late for a technical talk in the semi-final of the Spanish Super Cup against Athletic Club Bilbao , Iñaki Peña has experienced a considerable loss of prominence, and has had to accept the substitution.
He has moved to a secondary role, behind Wojciech Szczesny, who currently holds the privilege of being the starting goalkeeper, and as ‘Hansi’ has confirmed, he has no intention of making any more changes in this position. This means that for the rest of the season, the German coach’s idea is to continue betting on the ’25’, who has yet to know defeat whenever he has been on the pitch, despite having made some serious mistakes.
Precisely for this reason, there are pieces of the squad who consider that he does not deserve to be a starter, especially, seeing the outstanding performances that the former Villarreal and Turkish Galatasaray player had made, being decisive on many occasions thanks to his interventions. But the experienced manager has made a definitive decision, and has decided to punish the 25-year-old goalkeeper, whom he does not forgive for his indiscipline for not being punctual.
He doesn’t care about everything Iñaki has contributed to Barça in recent months, since Marc-André ter Stegen suffered a serious knee injury, and he has already made it clear that he will not spare him. So despite the lack of confidence that the Polish international has shown in practically all the matches he has played, being sent off in the Clásico against Real Madrid and being responsible for two of the four goals they conceded against Benfica, he has Flick’s total confidence.
Peña will have to accept this role, no matter how much his teammates insist that he receive a pardon and regain his place in the lineups.
Iñaki’s future at Barça is totally uncertain
And this situation has caused Iñaki’s future at the Camp Nou to be totally uncertain , considering that he only has a contract valid until 2026, and has left negotiations to renew paralyzed.
If things continue as they are now, he could consider leaving Barça in the summer and moving to another team that promises him a starting role.
