Laporta puts Ter Stegen's captaincy in Flick's hands.

Barcelona"We have doubts that this will end well, and from the outside we only see the tip of the iceberg." This reflection comes from the Barça locker room, where the effects of the jet lag after the endless journey back from Daegu (South Korea) to Barcelona (18 hours by bus and plane) with the stupor of the latest chapter in the war between the Barça club and the still captain of the first team, Marc-André ter Stegen. A case that will experience a new episode this Thursday, when the board will hand the German armband over to Hansi Flick.

Although a few days ago President Joan Laporta and his collaborators were Supporters of opening a dialogue with the Mönchengladbach player to get him to agree to send the League a report stating that he will be out for more than four months due to a back injury, the goalkeeper's persistent refusal, who believes he will be playing in three months, has reignited the conflict. This month's difference in the diagnosis is key, since only after four does the League relax the fair play Financially. Barça, which has been struggling with player registration in the competition for four years, needs to prove it in order to register Joan Garcia, but Ter Stegen opposes the club sharing a forecast he considers exaggerated. The war is total, and the parties are entrenched to the point that Laporta will only agree to sit at a table with the captain if he backs down.

Camp Nou has leaked its intention to open disciplinary proceedings against the goalkeeper, but experts assure that this option has very little potential. "This decision sounds more like a pressure measure than anything else, since data protection legislation, especially regarding health data, prohibits sharing it without consent, although there are some exceptions the club could raise, although it would be difficult to invoke them. It would be another matter if it were included in Ter Ste's contract," said Cristian Zarroca, a lawyer specializing in sports law at ARA.

The Spanish Footballers' Association (AFE) is along the same lines, having already contacted the German's entourage to reassure them in case Barça wanted to send the report unilaterally to La Liga or relied on the collective agreement of the Spanish train or which provides for disqualifications that would cause serious harm to the club." Precisely Barça understands that Ter Stegen's blocking attitude dynamites its sporting planning, but at the same time the German could defend himself by saying that the possibility of using his injury to register Joan Garcia comes after the presentation of the Sallent goalkeeper as a new Barça player.

To pressure the goalkeeper, Barça wants him to stop being captain. And this Thursday, coinciding with the return to training, the club's intention is for Hansi Flick to address the issue and consider stripping his compatriot of the captaincy. This Wednesday it was reported that Ter Stegen was no longer captain, a fact denied by Barça. However, club sources admit that the final say will lie with Flick, who will have to balance between a board that doesn't want to see Ter Stegen wearing the armband and a dressing room that believes the decision on who is captain should be made by the players.

In fact, people at Barça consulted by this newspaper assured this Wednesday that it is "impossible" for the dressing room to be pleased if the board unilaterally stripped Ter Stegen of the captaincy. The same sources argue that this measure would set a dangerous precedent in terms of the first team's coexistence and also its independence from the directors.

Unilateral termination, an extreme solution

In recent hours, the sporting director of the German national football team, Andreas Rettig, has also added fuel to the fire. "I would like Ter Stegen to be treated according to his merits and importance, not only with us, but also at Barcelona," declared the executive. Days earlier, German national team coach Julian Nagelsmann made it clear that the Barça captain "is the number 1" on his team, although he added the nuance that to play in the next World Cup, he must also be "number 1" "at his club." Ter Stegen's intention is to be available again in November and play with Die Mannschaft ahead of the FIFA lockout that month. And if he doesn't play for Barça, a loan move will be considered at the end of the year in the winter transfer window. He is covered by a contract that runs until 2028.

These are crucial hours for the outcome of this soap opera, with just 10 days until the start of La Liga. Barça needs to free up significant salary to sign Joan Garcia, Rashford, Szczęsny, and Gerard Martín in La Liga, and the Camp Nou offices are considering different avenues to achieve this objective. In this regard, the possibility of unilaterally terminating the relationship with Ter Stegen has not been ruled out. a recipe that was already followed two summers ago with Nikola Mirotic. If the dismissal were to be valid, the club would have to lose in a hypothetical trial and would be obliged to pay the player's entire salary until 2028, but it could win. fair play if these amounts were no longer excessively wage-based and became provisions.