Barcelona open talks to renew veteran star who is yet to taste defeat this season | OneFootball

Wojciech Szczesny has been a big hit at FC Barcelona in the short period that he has been at the club.

Having come out of retirement to sign for the Blaugrana in September, following the injury to Marc-Andre ter Stegen, the 34-year-old has grown in stature and become an important player.

Having won the trust of the coaching staff and the club management, Szczesny has established himself as the first-choice starter in Ter Stegen’s absence, replacing Inaki Pena.

The Blaugrana have remained unbeaten in each of the 16 games he has featured in (W14 D2), keeping eight clean sheets.

As such, Barcelona are now open to offering the veteran star a new contract to keep him at the club beyond this season.

Talks underway

Now, MARCA reports that Barcelona have begun discussions with Wojciech Szczesny’s camp to extend his contract beyond June 30.

Barça’s plan has always been to keep Szczesny beyond this season since he was signed following Ter Stegen’s injury.

Set to stay put. (Photo by Aitor Alcalde/Getty Images)

But the club needed to wait for two key factors: first, for the goalkeeper to regain top physical condition after stepping away from football for several months; and second, to assess his performance once he started playing for them.

With both conditions now met, Barcelona have begun working on extending Szczesny’s contract. Deco has already held initial talks with the goalkeeper’s agent, and both sides are fully open to reaching an agreement.

The initial plan is for the Polish goalkeeper to extend his contract by one more year. This is certain, but the possibility of an additional year is also being discussed.

The deal could be structured with an optional second season based on performance-related variables. Talks have only just begun, so there is still much to negotiate.

Barcelona manager Hansi Flick supports Szczesny’s renewal and has given his approval to the contract extension talks.

The Blaugrana’s plan is to have both Ter Stegen and Szczesny as the main goalkeepers for the next campaign. The big question now is what will happen with Inaki Pena, who has one year left on his contract.