Barça changes strategy with Ter Stegen
The German goalkeeper is already in Barcelona and his goal is to return to playing in November.
BarcelonaBarça will conclude their Asian tour this Monday with a final match against the South Korean league's bottom club, Daegu (1 p.m., YouTube). It has been a busy few days in the Barça dressing room, with the number of players counted down to ten on several occasions to cope with logistical difficulties, stifling heat and humidity, and the discomfort associated with being so far from home. However, the team will return to Barcelona without any injuries and with the feeling that they will continue with the same voracity they displayed last season. From Hansi Flick and his staff The final collective adjustments will depend on the first official League match in Mallorca, the first of three consecutive away matches. due to delayed construction work at Camp Nou.
Meanwhile, in the offices, work will be underway to resolve, at least provisionally, the goalkeeping saga. Two figures—Joan Garcia and Wojciech Szczesny—await new developments with little room for maneuver, and a third, in conflict—Iñaki Peña—is holding the squad accountable for whatever may happen, while the protagonist of the story, Marc-André ter Stegen, holds the reins in several ways. The German is well aware that the club would want him out to facilitate a replacement in a position he has dominated without much opposition since 2016. Nevertheless, he is clinging to the multi-million-dollar contract he agreed with President Laporta until 2028 to prevent his departure. Furthermore, aware that the record of Joan Garcia, who is being tipped as his successor, may depend on his departure, he is playing with the recovery time from the lumbar injury he underwent surgery for a few days ago in France.
It's no coincidence that Ter Stegen announced on social media, ahead of Barça, that his absence associated with this surgery would last three months. Only after the age of four, according to La Liga regulations, could the club use 50% of the German's salary to register a replacement. The ratio rises to 80% for absences exceeding five months. The club will act based on the determinations of its medical committee, which will decide based on the information provided by the Barça medical services, in turn informed by the prognosis of Amélie Léglise, the specialist who operated on the player last Tuesday. Barça believe the absence could extend until early 2026, while the French expert is not so conservative. Be that as it may, however, no timeframe will be communicated to the La Liga committee without Ter Stegen's consent, and therefore, the club will not be able to activate any exception to the rule. fair play financial.
"It's the most direct way to register Joan Garcia."
To get this approval, which de facto If the German goalkeeper accepts that he will not be able to compete again in November, as he intends, the Barcelona club will change its strategy. Laporta and Deco want to calm the hostile climate that has existed with the captain since the end of last season. They want to move from the leaks about his bad behavior and the murmurings in favor of unilaterally removing the number 1 shirt - or even the captaincy - to a less tense, more rational dialogue. Since the rectal route, seasoned with the #TerStegenOut hashtag that became popular in June on social media, has not worked with Ter Stegen, in the coming days they will opt for oral therapy. The words of influential figures in the dressing room such as Frenkie de Jong, Raphinha Dias, and Pablo Gavi, all of them in favor of the first captain, are rowing in this direction.
In the last few hours, Laporta has also spoken with the aim of reducing the tension in the conflict with Ter Stegen and the associated problem of Joan Garcia's registration. "The absence [of the German goalkeeper] is important and this is the most direct way to register [the goalkeeper from Sallent]," the Barça official stated yesterday, Saturday, from South Korea. The meaning of these statements, which leave the door open to other solutions to regularize the situation of the former Espanyol player before the start of La Liga, downplays the significance of the medical report that Ter Stegen must validate. Laporta also sent a message of calm to Szczesny, Marcus Rashford, and Roony Bardghji: "We are convinced that we will be able to register them." But reality remains stubborn: Barça is outside the 1:1 rule. It is therefore understandable that Iñaki Peña, the only goalkeeper officially available, has not packed his bags even though he is not part of Flick's plans.