Barcelona director all but confirms in-form star’s contract renewal – ‘He will surely stay’ | OneFootball

Wojciech Szczesny is set to remain at Barcelona next season, according to Sporting Director Deco.

The 35-year-old goalkeeper was brought in as an emergency signing back in October 2024 following a serious knee injury to first-choice goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

The veteran shot-stopper came out of retirement to join the Catalans but had signed only a short-term contract until the end of the season.

However, since making his debut in January, Szczesny has become a key player for Hansi Flick, providing leadership, experience and reliability at the back.

As such, talks about extending his stay for another season have been ongoing and Deco seemingly confirmed the same today ahead of the game against Celta Vigo.

Speaking to DAZN (h/t MARCA), Deco strongly suggested that the Polish goalkeeper’s continuity at the club is all but confirmed.

“Szczesny is a very experienced goalkeeper. We had the opportunity to bring him in by chance. He was a player who we knew had a lot to contribute,” said Deco.

“Then the credit goes to the coaches and the players themselves on a day-to-day basis. We are happy with him. He will surely stay with us next season.”

Deco confirms Szczesny will stay at Barcelona. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

On the team’s overall performance so far this season, Deco said: “When the season started, the plans were to fight for the titles. Nothing else is accepted here.

“We are in a good moment, with almost all the players, with confidence… winning or losing is a process. Competing is what we have to do and that is what we have achieved so far.”

Regarding Barcelona’s statement regarding the club filing a formal complaint over the fixture scheduling and their attempts to move to game against Real Valladolid to an earlier time, Deco noted:

“We always make requests, trying to change match times. Sometimes they listen to us and sometimes they don’t. In the Champions League matches we have been vulnerable when it comes to protecting ourselves with the schedules.

“The manager has been talking to us about it for a long time. We don’t have the power to make the decisions. We understand why the match against Valladolid was scheduled for Sunday and then moved to Saturday, it could have been played at 4 or 6.30.

Concluding, he said: “We would have liked to have played a little earlier. We would have liked to play a little earlier. We asked to play at 18:30 but the league made another decision.”