Wojciech Szczesny is settling into life as a Barcelona player. Last week, his arrival was confirmed after La Liga gave their approval, and as things stand, he would be able to make his debut immediately after the international break.
Barcelona are keeping an eye on left-back Álvaro Carreras, who is impressing at Benfica. Carreras spent his youth career at Real Madrid, later moved to Manchester United, and eventually joined the Portuguese side. @ojogo
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) October 10, 2024
Szczesny came out of retirement to join the La Liga leaders. After his stay at Juventus came to a premature end, he made the decision to hang up his gloves, although it was not a pre-planned process, as he revealed to Sport.
“They told me that it was too expensive (to renew) because they are going through financial problems and that they would like to find a solution. And out of respect for Juve, we found a solution. And so it ended. I could have stayed and collected my year, but I believe in personal relationships and the club respected me a lot.
“I also believe in karma. It was instantaneous. Because now I will be in the last year of my career at Barcelona, the biggest challenge I have ever taken on. The world paid me back for being respectful of Juventus.”
Szczesny also opened up on the process behind his move to Barcelona. He revealed that fellow Pole Robert Lewandowski contacted him immediately after Marc-Andre Ter Stegen suffered his season-ending knee injury.
“The first call was from Robert. It was after the match at Villarreal. It wasn’t a proposal, it was something informal: ‘Hey, if there was the possibility…?’ But I wasn’t sure, I didn’t even give him an answer. It didn’t seem real. The first serious call was when Deco and Flick contacted me. There was no turning back there, I had to take it. If I hadn’t been clear about it, I wouldn’t have picked up the phone.”