Barcelona have contacted Wojciech Szczesny to explore possible options to replace injured first-choice goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

Ter Stegen, 32, suffered a tear to the patellar tendon in his right knee during Sunday’s match against Villarreal. On Monday, Barcelona confirmed that he had undergone successful surgery on the area and there are fears that he will miss the rest of the 2024-25 season.

The club is looking for an experienced goalkeeper to compete with Inaki Pena, who has filled in for Barcelona in ter Stegen’s absence. Szczesny is initially expected to step in as a replacement for the La Masia graduate.

Szczesny announced his retirement from professional football in August at the age of 34.

He left Juventus in the summer after he and the club mutually agreed to terminate his contract a year early. Juventus had held talks at the beginning of the transfer window to sell the former Polish international to Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr, but the negotiations failed.

It was agreed that Szczesny would receive a sum of money from Juve as part of this mutual agreement to terminate his contract. It was also agreed that the amount would be reduced if he decided to come out of retirement to play for another club before the end of June 2025.

Pena replaced Ter Stegen after his injury against Villarreal. The game was his first competitive appearance for Barcelona since the 3-1 La Liga win over Alaves in February.

Pena, 25, made 17 appearances for Barcelona last season, most of them despite ter Stegen being sidelined for two months with injury around the turn of the year.

Pena came on as a substitute for Ter Stegen against Villarreal (Jose Miguel Fernandez/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

During the press conference on Tuesday, Hansi Flick said Pena was ready to take over his position.

“Inaki Pena is absolutely ready to play,” he said. “He was absolutely focused in training. Sometimes it’s not easy being the second goalkeeper. But we have complete confidence in him.

“We also have to see what we are going to do. We will discuss it internally later today because we have very young players in defence and goalkeeping. We have to pay attention to that, but I don’t think we are under any pressure now because we really have confidence in Inaki.”

Aside from Pena, Barcelona’s other goalkeepers are relatively young and inexperienced. However, 18-year-old Diego Kochen is out with a thigh injury, so 20-year-old Ander Astralaga could be a possible replacement for Pena. Barcelona also has 18-year-old Aron Yaakobishvili in its goalkeeping ranks.

Barcelona have struggled to sign new players due to La Liga’s salary rules, but the competition’s governing body’s rules allow clubs to sign temporary replacements for injured players. Barca have already used this option twice this season – bringing in Dani Olmo and Inigo Martinez (following injuries to Ronald Araujo and Andreas Christensen) – and Ter Stegen’s injury gives them another opportunity to do so.

Szczesny played for Arsenal, Roma and Juventus and won eleven major trophies during his 15-year professional career.

He played 84 international matches for Poland and appeared in two of his team’s three matches at the 2024 European Championship.

When he announced his retirement on Instagram, he said his heart was no longer in it and it was time to spend more time with his family.

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Marc-André ter Stegen is out for the rest of the season – so what are Barcelona’s plans?

(Top photo: Valerio Pennicino/Getty Images)