Barcelona Signs Dominik Livakovic to Shape Future Goalkeeping Strategy

Barcelona are not waiting for a crisis in goal. They are trying to get ahead of it.

Dominik Livakovic is due in the city this afternoon, with the Croatian international expected to touch down at Barcelona’s private flight terminal at around 5:30 p.m. local time as he edges towards completing his move to the club, according to SPORT.

On Tuesday, he is scheduled to undergo his medical at the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper. If all goes to plan, the final paperwork of his transfer will follow and Barcelona will officially have a new goalkeeper on their books.

That is the simple part. The complicated question comes next: where will Livakovic actually play in the 2026/27 season?

A signing for now – and for what comes next

This is not a panic signing and not a short-term patch. Inside the sporting department, Deco and his team view the operation as a bridge between present and future, a way of protecting the club before Wojciech Szczesny’s contract runs down.

Barcelona do not want to reach the end of Szczesny’s deal and suddenly find themselves scrambling in a difficult market. Instead, they have chosen to move early, secure a goalkeeper they trust, and then build a plan around him.

That is why this deal carries so much weight internally. Livakovic is not being brought in just to fill out the training sessions or sit quietly in the stands. He is seen as a genuine candidate to become a long-term solution in goal.

The first steps of that plan are already mapped out. Arrival this afternoon. Medical tests tomorrow at the training ground. Then, if everything is in order, the formalities of his signing will be wrapped up.

After that, the real debate begins.

Two paths on the table

Once Livakovic officially becomes a Barcelona player, the club must decide what to do with him immediately.

One route is a loan. Barcelona could send him out for regular football, allowing him to play week in, week out, and then bring him back when Szczesny’s contract expires. From a development standpoint, the logic is obvious: competitive minutes, rhythm, and sharpness, all gained away from the pressure of fighting for a starting spot at Camp Nou from day one.

The alternative is to keep him in-house under Hansi Flick right away.

That option would allow the coaching staff to work with him daily, adapt him to the team’s style and demands, and integrate him into the dressing room and club culture from the start. He would learn the system, the build-up patterns, the expectations with the ball at his feet and without it, directly under Flick’s eye.

Both plans have clear benefits. Both carry risk. And Barcelona have not yet chosen.

For now, Livakovic’s flight and medical are the only certainties. The days that follow – and the decision on whether he leaves on loan or stays to learn under Flick – will reveal how Barcelona truly imagine their goalkeeping hierarchy when Szczesny’s contract finally runs out.