Ter Stegen Trains Alone: Uncertainty at Barcelona
The Barcelona goalkeeper, Marc-André ter Stegen, has been training on his own since the team’s return to pre-season on Sunday, amid uncertainty about his future.
The Barça players underwent medical tests on Sunday before the coach held the team’s first session on Monday. The club reported that Ter Stegen trained alone in the gym.
The international German did not participate in either of the two sessions on Tuesday, according to the club.
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Barça will travel to Asia next week for pre-season friendlies in Japan and South Korea. A source close to the club indicates that it has not yet been decided whether Ter Stegen will travel with the team.
Ter Stegen, 33 years old, arrived at Barça in 2014 and has been the undisputed starting goalkeeper since 2016, after Claudio Bravo’s transfer to Manchester City.
However, he has dropped in the hierarchical order this summer after the signing of Joan García from Espanyol for 25 million euros.
Sources close to the club have revealed that Ter Stegen has been asked to leave, but so far he has expressed his desire to stay.
The club hopes he can change his mind once it becomes clear that he won’t play, as he needs to have regular playing minutes ahead of next summer’s World Cup, where he hopes to be Germany’s starting goalkeeper.
Barça’s plan is for García to be backed by Wojciech Szczęsny, who recently signed a new two-year contract with the club.
Szczęsny came out of retirement last summer to sign for Barça when Ter Stegen suffered a serious knee injury at the end of September.
Ter Stegen returned for the last weeks of the season, playing two matches, but Szczęsny kept his position for the important matches.
García and Szczęsny have participated in the Barça sessions this week, as has Iñaki Peña.
Peña was previously Ter Stegen’s number 2 and initially took his place in the team last season before being displaced by Szczęsny.
Sources have confirmed that Peña is open to a new challenge outside of Barça in search of regular playing time.
