We would all like to be Wojciech Szczęsny

At the end of August, Wojciech Szczęsny, 34, had announced his retirement from football: a decision understandable but difficult to accept for football fans all over the world, particularly for Juventus supporters. The club had already communicated that the new number 1 (only on the jersey) would be Mattia Perin, while the starter would be 25-year-old Michele Gregorio. Despite this, rumors soon spread about a possible continuation of Szczęsny's career in Saudi Arabia. However, the goalkeeper, nicknamed "coso" since his arrival in Roma in 2015, had no intention of seeking a new club after his time with the Bianconeri. Less than a month after his retirement, an unexpected offer arrived: Barcelona, due to Marc-André ter Stegen's injury, which would keep him out for the entire season, begged Szczęsny to reconsider his departure. The Polish goalkeeper, now a free agent, accepted the offer from the Blaugrana and officially became the new goalkeeper of the Catalan club. A "retirement from retirement," thus, an entirely unprecedented situation in football history. The entire affair unfolded in less than a month and is a fitting reward for the career of one of the most underrated goalkeepers of the past decade.

We all wish we could be like Wojciech Szczęsny, the favorite goalkeeper of your favorite goalkeeper. The phrase «Never a word out of place» has become a cliché to describe athletes with impeccable conduct. Szczęsny, Barcelona's new goalkeeper, has always been (and will continue to be) one of the most respected footballers on the world stage, thanks to a reserved attitude and a demeanor far from flashy - except for the occasional cigarette smoked in public (noteworthy is this photoshop from the Guardian) or after matches with the Polish National Team, or for that famous moment when he passed a cigarette to Maurizio Sarri during a post-Scudetto interview with Juventus in the 2019/20 season. After all, it's known that a goalkeeper must show at least a hint of craziness. Let's not forget that he named his children Liam and Noelia, almost emphasizing a passion for Oasis. Could the recent reunion of the British band have awakened in Szczęsny a desire for adventure? Or perhaps he simply realized how much he has been missed and praised like never before, gathering the right energy to make a great comeback. In any case, Szczęsny is ready to return to the field, and who knows, perhaps for more than just one season.

Fate has rewarded him with a move to one of the greatest clubs in history and, at the moment, among the most in-form in world football, riding a winning streak in La Liga under new coach Hansi Flick. Szczęsny played for Juventus in the 2018 Champions League final, one of the strongest teams in Bianconeri history. Saying that today's Barcelona is the strongest team the Pole has ever played for would be intellectually dishonest, but claiming that it is currently a better-prepared team than Juventus is certainly legitimate, and perhaps even indisputable. This is an unmissable opportunity for Szczęsny, one of those that boosts one's ego and makes you feel like you've made no mistakes throughout your career, neither on the field nor, especially, in front of the microphones. This is Wojciech Szczęsny – who, knowing him, has already added the best grammar, pronunciation, and diction books to his cart to learn Catalan, ready to put his linguistic skills to the test after mastering near-perfect Italian.