German goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen will travel to Bordeaux this Tuesday for lumbar spine surgery. Earlier, he revealed that he would be sidelined for three months, making it difficult for the club to activate the long-term injury registration mechanism.
Notably, this injury occurred amid an ongoing public standoff between ter Stegen and FC Barcelona. The club had previously signed García, aiming to make him the first-choice goalkeeper while leaving the door open for ter Stegen's departure.
However, ter Stegen has consistently resisted leaving, firmly believing he can compete for the starting spot. Before the start of preseason, he had a meeting with Frick, but the meeting did not ease the tension between the two sides.
After the injury, ter Stegen issued a statement via social media, saying that after consulting multiple experts, he decided to undergo back surgery and is expected to be sidelined for three months.
This duration is insufficient to meet the minimum requirement for the club to activate the long-term injury clause, which would allow it to register new signings using 80% of his salary cap. The club responded immediately by revealing to the outside world that the player has no right to unilaterally announce the injury layoff period.
Furthermore, the club is considering stripping ter Stegen of the captain's armband. His jersey number was temporarily withdrawn during the preseason (Frick called this a temporary arrangement), and the No. 1 jersey belonged to García in Barcelona's match against Vissel Kobe.
Ter Stegen refused to let club staff accompany him to Bordeaux for the surgery, a move that once again indicates that the relationship between the two parties remains tense.
Barcelona will issue an official announcement after the surgery. In principle, the club cannot disclose injury details without the player's consent, so it will be difficult for the official statement to clearly specify the recovery time, especially given the inconsistent statements between the club and the player. Therefore, the announcement is likely to only state that the surgery was successful and that “the player's return time will depend on the recovery progress.”
However, the report provided to Barcelona by French experts may still note a recovery period of 4 months or longer. This report will be submitted to the expert committee of the Royal Spanish Football Federation for review. Once approved, Barcelona can implement the long-term injury registration clause and use 80% of ter Stegen's salary space to register new signings.
