10 things to know about Wojciech Szczęsny

FC Barcelona has a new goalkeeper. With 84 caps for his country, Polish stopper Wojciech Szczęsny brings a wealth of experience and will be at the club until 30 June 2025. Here are ten things that every fan needs to know about the latest addition to the squad:

1. From dancer to footballer

Although he started playing football at the age of eight, the first sport he took up seriously was actually ballroom dancing, and he also threw the javelin. “I was seven to nine year old" he remembers. "I was tall and rather stiff, but I had all the moves."

2. Goalie dynasty

He inherited his ability between the posts from his father Maciej, who kept goal for the likes of Legia Warsaw and Wisla Krakow. His brother Jan, now 36, has also played in goal in the Polish lower leagues.

3. Barça memories

Szczęsny has played 75 games in the Champions League and the first of all was a knockout game against FC Barcelona. That was on 16 February 2011, in a 2-1 win for Arsenal. The keeper played a key role in keeping the likes of Xavi, Iniesta, Villa, Pedro and Leo Messi at bay. He also appeared in the second leg at Camp Nou, but came off injured after 19 minutes and his team went on to lose 3-1.

4. Friend and compatriot

He has never played at the same club as any of his new team-mates, but of course he knows Robert Lewandowski extremely well. Two of the linchpins of the Polish international team, they have played no fewer than 71 games together for their country since 2009, albeit at opposite ends of the pitch!

5. Messi penalty save

One of the highlights of his career came when he saved a penalty against none other than Leo Messi at the Qatar 2022 World Cup. Argentina, who had lost to Saudi Arabia in their opening game, needed to beat Poland to qualify, and although they ultimately did (and went on to win the trophy), Szczęsny made them sweat a bit longer when the score was still 0-0 in their game. Halldórsson of Iceland (in 2018) is the only other goalkeeper who can claim to have saved a Messi spot kick at the World Cup.

6. Juve goalkeeping tradition

Comparisons may well be made between Szczęsny and Barça's former keeper from Brazil, Neto, as both played in Catalonia after previously being at Juventus. Neto was there from 2015 to 2017, and left Turin just two weeks before Szczęsny arrived to replace him. Adding to the coincidences, Neto was recently loaned from Bournemouth to Arsenal, another of Szczęsny's former clubs.

7. Benching Buffon and Alisson

If anyone doubts the Polish keeper's credentials, they just need reminding that at Roma, he was the number one choice ahead of none other than Alisson, now of Liverpool, while at Juventus his presence meant that the legendary Buffon was relegated to the substitutes bench. In 2019 he laughingly said, “the conclusion is that I am probably the world's greatest goalkeeper of all time!"

8. Top in the Premier League and Serie A

This is a man who not only once named the best goalkeeper in the Premier League but also in Serie A, two of the strongest competitions in the world. He shared the 2013/14 honour with Petr Cech in England, and he was the outright winner in Italy in 2019/20.

9. Family guy

Barça has signed a man for whom family comes first. His partner since 2013 has been Ukraine born singer Marina Łuczenko, who grew up in Poland and is an extremely well-known person in their country. They have two children, Liam born in 2018, and little Noelia, born last July.

10. In form and motivated

He had actually announced his retirement on August 27, but not so much for football reasons, but because “my body still felt able to play football, but not my heart. That's why I decided to retire." Then came the call from Barça. And it seems his football heart suddenly started beating again. And who can blame him?