Barcelona have officially signed Wojciech Szczesny through next summer to replace captain Marc-André ter Stegen, who is out for the season with a knee injury. Barça moved quickly to convince the former Poland and Juventus goalkeeper to come out of retirement to join the Catalans, and they won’t have to wait too long to see him in action.
Barça coach Hansi Flick was asked about Szczesny’s status in a press conference on Saturday, after somewhat surprisingly leaving him out of the squad that will travel to the Basque Country to face Alavés on Sunday.
Szczesny took part in two training sessions before the match, and Flick revealed the keeper will spend the upcoming international break getting up to full fitness to be ready for action when Barça return from the national team window in two weeks.
“He is in very good form, with his experience and his quality, having Szczesny is good for the club. When I spoke to him, he seemed like a very affable person, he said he would contribute to the team in any way, unfortunately he needs more time to be with us. After the break he will be ready.”
Iñaki Peña will be the starter against Alavés and will probably be given the number one shirt for a few games after the break, but it sounds like it won’t be too long before we see Szczesny between the posts. And he’ll spend the next two weeks working hard to ensure he’s ready to go once his number’s called.
