Report: Juventus to begin contract extension talks with Wojciech Szczesny

Wojciech Szczesny had the task that few in Juventus history have had to come close to matching two summers ago. Not only did he become Juve’s new No. 1 goalkeeper with the accompanying jersey number to boot, but he was the first man up when it came to replacing the best goalkeeper the game has ever seen, Gianluigi Buffon.

In that nearly season and a half since taking over the starting goalkeeper spot from Buffon after San Gigi decided to head off to Paris for a year, Szczesny has proven to be about as steady of a presence in goal as Juve could have asked for.

And now it seems as though he’s about to be rewarded for it.

According to Goal Italia’s Romeo Agresti, Juventus and Szczesny’s representatives are getting ready to open contract renewal talks for the 29-year-old goalkeeper. Juventus are looking to lock down Szczesny, who has a deal that runs through the 2020-21 season, to a contract extension through the 2023-24 campaign, according to Agresti — who also reports that Juventus Director of Football Fabio Paratici wants to get this specific deal done rather quickly.

So, just a day after the report that Paulo Dybala could very well be opening contract extension talks with the Juventus management team, the same goes for Szczesny.

They obviously had two very different summers with two very different kinds of situations entering the 2019-20 season, but two very important players to this Juventus project seem to be ready to possibly sign on for another couple of years.

And that’s good.

Replacing Buffon was never going to be easy. But, as it seems like everything in Szczesny’s world, he really showed absolutely no stress about it at all. Working with Buffon during his first season surely helped the transition from the legendary Italian to Szczesny. The same can be said this season with Buffon back to both be the mentor he was two years ago as well as a steady locker room presence that obviously has such a huge voice amongst his teammates.

Known during his Arsenal days as a talented goalkeeper but one that would get his own way to stunt his potential and current-day growth, Szczesny’s consistent play has been the thing that has made the transition to a post-Buffon world — yeah, yeah, he’s back this season, but just stick with me here — such a smooth one. There’s been little drama, with only a few noticeable mistakes made in goal that can be attributed to Szczesny himself.

Szczesny has performed quite well overall and has clearly got the faith of the management on his side. Because of it, he is about to be rewarded nicely.