Important asterisk added to Barcelona goalkeeper hunt following contacts with free agents

Barcelona look as if they will look to sign a goalkeeper now rather than wait until January to be able to look at a larger pool than just the players out of contract currently. They may not be used much though.

According to Cadena Cope, while Barcelona are looking for an experienced option to come in and compete with Inaki Pena, they would be signed with the second-choice role in mind, rather than as a straight replacement for Marc-Andre ter Stegen. The Blaugrana are already in contact with some of their options.

Breaking: Keylor Navas and Wojciech Szczęsny are the main candidates to be signed to cover Marc-André ter Stegen's absence. The Pole is ready to come out of retirement. @sport

— barcacentre (@barcacentre) September 24, 2024

During his press conference, manager Hansi Flick did go out of his way to back Pena, while noting that their alternatives, Diego Kochen (just 18 and injured for a month) and Ander Astralaga (20), are both very young options.

While Barcelona believe that Kochen could be a first-choice goalkeeper long-term, but feel this could be a little early to put him in, and neither he nor Astralaga have ever featured at a senior level above the third tier of Spanish football, although both were on Barcelona’s preseason tour to the USA.

Either way, it is certainly a beneficial tidbit to put out publicly. Pena has allegedly been irritated by the flurry of links to other goalkeepers, and at the very least in the next couple of weeks, Barcelona will have to rely on the 25-year-old. Even if Pena is beaten out eventually by a newcomer, Flick’s messaging is the safest option.

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