Ter Stegen prevents Barca to register a new keeper

It has broken down between Barcelona and Marc-Andre ter Stegen (33). According to this morning's edition of Mundo Deportivo, the Catalan club has initiated disciplinary proceedings against the German goalkeeper because he refused to sign the medical report regarding the status of his injury, which the club was supposed to forward to La Liga’s Medical Commission. According to the regulations of Spain’s top-tier competition, the salary of a seriously injured player—one who will be out for at least four months—does not count toward the financial fair play calculations by up to 80%. In this case, that would free up significant space in Barcelona’s budget and allow them to register new signing Joan García (24), the goalkeeper recently brought in from Espanyol.

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Barcelona was counting on the experienced German to sign off, especially since they managed to register Dani Olmo and Inigo Martínez in a similar way last season—thanks to signed medical reports from Andreas Christensen and Ronald Araujo. However, the former Borussia Monchengladbach goalkeeper refused to cooperate with the club. Medical data of a player is private, and therefore requires written consent for it to be shared. Until now, no player had ever refused to share information about their injury, which especially angered Barcelona’s leadership. They had planned to hold a meeting with Ter Stegen and had sent him a formal notice, only to receive a rather direct and unexpected response a few days later: “I don’t want to sign something like that”.

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Since Barcelona believes this refusal could harm the club—both in sporting and financial terms, as García could be registered immediately—they have decided that the German goalkeeper must face some consequences. What kind, however, remains to be seen, but they are exploring all options, including the court! Ter Stegen is under contract with Barcelona until 2028, but ever since Joan García's arrival, there have been growing rumors that he might leave Camp Nou. Inter and Galatasaray have been mentioned as possible destinations. Due to his injury, the German is expected to be sidelined until around mid-December.