The 26-year-old was signed from Benfica in 2017 with the hopes of succeeding Dani Alves but regularly found himself battling Sergi Roberto for a spot in the starting lineup.
According to Semedo, he hasn’t reached the level he wanted at Barcelona
Nelson Semedo completed his move from Barcelona to Wolverhampton Wanderers on 23 September, but the right-back looked back on Catalonia’s time with little regret. The 26-year-old was signed from Benfica in 2017 with the hopes of succeeding Dani Alves but regularly found himself battling Sergi Roberto for a spot in the starting lineup. “I think I could have played more. But at Barcelona, the level is very high, and all the players are outstanding,” Semedo said in an interview. “I haven’t reached the level I wanted and I had to adapt to a completely different game than I was used to. It’s a pretty difficult style of play, but I was finally able to adapt to it.”
However, looking back on his time at Barcelona in general, Semedo believes it was a positive experience overall. “I liked Barcelona, I have developed good friendships, which I am going to take with me for the rest of my life,” Semedo said. “The balance of my time there is positive. I won four trophies and played almost 150 games in three years, which is very difficult at Barcelona. Some players struggled to share the dressing room with Lionel Messi. But the Portugal international had only good things to say about the Argentine. “He’s like a friend to me,” Semedo said. “He is a great player and a very good person. He gave a lot to the club and vice versa”. Semedo joined Wolves for a fee of €40 million, of which Barcelona will receive €30 million now and €10 million in add-ons.