Eredivisie’s best goalkeeper remains unfazed by reported Barcelona interest | OneFootball

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With the 2023-24 season having ended without any piece of silverware for them, FC Barcelona are focusing their full energies on ensuring they can assemble a team that can compete for all the titles in the upcoming summer transfer window.

There are several weak areas that the Catalans will be looking to reinforce this summer, but one can be reasonably sure that the goalkeeping position is not among them, as Marc Andre Ter Stegen is an established starter, while Inaki Pena is a highly capable substitute who can grow further in coming years.

Still, Barcelona have been linked with one of the rising goalkeepers, Mio Backhaus, who is owned by Werder Bremen but spent the last season on loan at the Dutch side, Volendam. This loan turned out to be a very productive one for the German, as he was named as the best goalkeeper in Eredivisie.

As Mundo Deportivo has reported, the 20-year-old goalkeeper appeared in an interview with Transfermarkt, and one of the questions put to him was related to the reported interest from Barcelona. The German appreciated this interest, but was clear about the future that he wanted to pursue:

“I received an incredible amount of messages on WhatsApp and Instagram. To be honest, those rumors are always good. However, my focus is exclusively on Werder. I know ‘Zetti’ (Michael Zetterer) had a good season, but I am returning to Bremen with a clear sporting goal.”

“Like any ambitious goalkeeper, I obviously want to be the number one. I am excited for the new season and will act accordingly in training.”

If there was a place for him in the Barcelona squad, Backhaus would definitely have been a very exciting option for the Catalan club. However, with both Ter Stegen and Inaki Pena set as the goalkeepers for the next season, the German youngster is rightly focused on working to get a starting spot in his current club.