‘I’m a bit of a psychopath’… 35-year-old Barcelona goalkeeper reflects on himself and his time at the club so far | OneFootball

FC Barcelona are still working on assembling a team that can compete at the highest level. So far this summer, the club has already been working on various operations for that exact reason. However, Barcelona have been very careful in that regard as well.

Following the arrival of Spanish goalkeeper Joan Garcia, it became clear that Barça wanted a change in the hierarchy of goalkeepers at the club. However, it does not seem that Marc-Andre Ter Stegen will be the player to partner up with Garcia as the two main goalkeepers.

Instead, it will likely be Wojciech Szczesny that ends up being his back-up option. This makes sense considering his recent contract renewal that will see him extend his stay at the club for two more years. As for the player himself, he spoke about his own mentality and time at Barcelona so far in a recent interview.

Wojciech Szczesny speaks about his time at Barcelona

Marc-Andre Ter Stegen and Wojciech Szczesny in training. (Photo by Fran Santiago/Getty Images)

As highlighted by SPORT, the 35-year-old Polish goalkeeper spoke about his own profile and the way he approaches games. When speaking about his reluctance to celebrate goals or be overly expressive during matches, Wojciech Szczesny spoke about his mentality as a player:

“I’m a bit of a psychopath. The first few mistakes in life hurt. But after a dozen or so, you get used to it—almost immune. A few years ago, I learned how to completely shut off emotions during games. I’m not like that in everyday life, only in sports. Many athletes are the same way, and that’s why I admire them: Michael Jordan, Roger Federer, Tiger Woods… It’s a psychological profile—we’re all quite similar.”

He also spoke about his decision to join Barcelona and confessed that the move might not have even happened had it not been for his own family:

“If it weren’t for my family, I wouldn’t have gone to Barcelona. I think it was more my wife being tired of me staying home than me needing rest. At first, I wasn’t too excited. But common sense won out. I told myself that whatever happened, I wouldn’t regret it. And I knew I would regret it if I didn’t take the challenge.”

Szczesny also shared details about the Barcelona dressing room, but also spoke about his own progression as well:

“The dressing room was fun, even though I didn’t play at first. But once I started playing and got into the groove, I had that amazing feeling of being really good at something, of living up to my own expectations.”

A new challenge and way of football

However, he also confessed that the Barcelona way of playing football was something that perhaps intimidated him at first, and he also revealed his own lack of ambition as well at a certain point:

“The way we were going to play was a challenge in itself. At first, I was on the bench thinking: ‘Maybe I’d rather not play in this system.’ Honestly, I didn’t mind not playing. I was burned out from football, my career felt over. I didn’t have the hunger anymore.”

For him, the Barcelona challenge was something entirely new to him, but his understanding of the club and its players so far allowed him to see just how easy it is to play with the ball at his feet when surrounded by the technical maestros at Barcelona:

Previously, the Barcelona goalkeeper also spoke about club teammate Pedri and showered a lot of praise towards him. In fact, he even went as far as to call him the most impressive player that he has ever seen as well.