FC Barcelona have a strange goalkeeping situation on their hands that they would need to sort out before the start of the new season. As things stand, the club has four first-team shot-stoppers: Marc-Andre Ter Stegen, Joan Garcia, Wojciech Szczesny and Inaki Pena.
Ideally, the club would prefer to keep only two of the four in the team and use the reserve team goalkeeper as the third-choice option. Joan Garcia is a new signing and Szczesny who was nearing free agency just signed a new contract, which assures the duo of their place in Flick’s plans.
At the opposite end of the spectrum is Inaki Pena. The 26-year-old Spaniard knows he is not in Flick’s plans this summer and despite the fact that he is expected to be on the Asian pre-season tour, he is likely to leave the club by the time the first game of the season comes around.
What next for Marc-Andre Ter Stegen?
That leaves Marc-Andre Ter Stegen. The club captain’s last couple of seasons have been ridden with injuries and it looks like for the third successive campaign, he might miss out on a significant chunk through a back injury. Even otherwise, it felt like the club had moved on from the German.
Now, as per Mundo Deportivo, Ter Stegen who is not training with the team due to back pain still continues to experience discomfort and will not be a part of the pre-season tour. However, he is yet to make a decision on whether or not to undergo surgery.
The 33-year-old is currently undergoing conservative treatment but it doesn’t look like there is much improvement. Going under the knife would be a brave decision though as it would rule him out of football for the foreseeable future.
Will he undergo surgery?
Should Ter Stegen undergo surgery, Barcelona might use 80% of his salary space to register Joan Garcia for La Liga. Even otherwise, the Catalan club might look to actively move on their club captain in the coming weeks and month.
It remains to be seen if there is any improvement on this front for Ter Stegen or if he makes the decision to undergo surgery to fix the problem, once and for all. The next few weeks should provide a clearer picture of what the future holds for the experienced German.
