In recent weeks a lot has been made of the situation of Marc-Andre ter Stegen in Barcelona, where the club captain has been replaced as a starting goalkeeper for the 2025-26 season. Joan Garcia and Wojciech Szczesny are the options of Hansi Flick in the future, which means that the German is in a difficult situation.
Flick told The club wants him to leave, but he is not obliged to look for an exit, since his contract runs until 2028.
Ter Stegen has options to leave, and according to German football legend Lothar Matthaus he should take one, as he told Bild (via MD).
“He has to leave, he will no longer play there. I understand Ter Stegen. He has played well, he has been a captain and he has his life in Barcelona. But he has to accept it. Barcelona has other ideas, other plans.
“These are decisions that need to be accepted. It is not necessary to complain, it is part of football. It is not an isolated incident. It is not Hansi film, it is Barcelona. And nothing is bigger than the club, and that also applies to Barcelona.”
It must be reminded that a World Cup year has now started, with the next tournament that will take place next summer in North America. As it looks now, Ter Stegen will be the starter of Germany, but that could change if he sidelined the entire season of 2025-26.
Barcelona hopes that Ter Stegen will be in operation once the seriousness of that situation, but for now he is still looking for the club where he joined ten years ago. However, that attitude could change in the coming weeks.