When Franck Kessie arrived at Barcelona as a free agent in the summer transfer window, there was a sense of excitement among the fans. After all, the 26-year-old was one of the best-performing midfielders in Serie A and had helped AC Milan to the title last season.
Furthermore, Kessie would be adding something different to the Barça midfield unit with his physicality and strength – a characteristic that had made the likes of Yaya Toure and Seydou Keita very important players at the club in the past.
However, safe to say that things have hardly gone according to plan for Kessie in his four months at Spotify Camp Nou.
Since joining the club, the Ivory Coast international has started in only five of Barcelona’s 20 matches across all competitions. The 26-year-old has found it difficult to break into Xavi’s plans and has had to suffice with warming the bench more often than not.
At the same time, he has also had fitness problems which kept him out on the sidelines. But, according to SPORT, Kessie is convinced that he can redeem himself at Barcelona after his slow start and become a useful part of Xavi’s plans moving forward this season.
Having been injured last month before the World Cup break, Kessie went back to his homeland and took his trusted personal trainer along with him and worked hard in order to recover from his injury.
Upon returning to Barcelona’s Ciutat Esportiva complex on December 5, the 26-year-old midfielder continued to arrange extra sessions for himself in the afternoons to step up his recovery and return to full fitness at the earliest possible.
The Ivory Coast international has already received his medical discharge and is confident about turning around his situation at the club.
Kessie believes that he can grow into a useful member of Xavi’s setup, especially with the World Cup returnees likely to be dealing with some fatigue ahead of a packed fixture schedule.
Despite there being speculations over his future at Camp Nou, Kessie is not bothered by that and is fully focused on redeeming himself at Barcelona over the coming months.