New signing Franck Kessie had to wait until the fifth official game of the season to start his first game in Barcelona colours. And well, it took him mere 13 minutes to get on the scoresheet against Viktoria Plzen in the Champions League opener.
Truth be told, the former Milan midfielder has been extremely patient about his new life in a new city. Despite playing in unfamiliar territory, Spanish news outlet SPORT says he is adapting well to the dressing room.
The 25-year-old, who arrived on a free transfer, has been described as a ‘sponge’ by the aforementioned publication mostly because of his desire to grow and learn new things under a new manager.
In fact, the Ivory Coast midfielder has a lot of respect for Xavi, not just because he is the coach but also because of his historic playing background.
Sources from SPORT say that ever since his arrival, Kessie has vouched to learn Spanish and he is only advancing one day at a time.
Now, one cannot really expect him to give interviews in Spanish anytime soon, but keep in mind that he took less than a year to learn Italian when he first moved to Italy.
Now, he hasn’t been in Barcelona for long but it is said that he is already loving the city and understands sooner or later, he will get his due diligence.
Interestingly enough, former Barcelona and Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure has helped his compatriot a lot. Kessie and Toure know each other personally and it is said that the latter gave him some important advice when he moved to the city.
On a personal level, it is never easy for a player to start the season on the bench, especially for those who were simply untouchable in playing XI in their former teams. After all, Kessie made 39 appearances across all competitions for Milan last season.
At Barcelona, however, he has had a slow start, to say the very least. He clocked a mere 17 minutes against Rayo Vallecano, six minutes against Real Sociedad and 14 minutes against Real Valladolid in the league, although he did reap rewards in the Champions League.
It’s been relayed that Kessie has full trust in Xavi’s decisions. He understands football is a team sport, hence thinking about yourself won’t do anything good. All this because he knows it’s going to be a long season anyway.
