On Thursday, Barcelona captain Marc-Andre ter Stegen announced that he will undergo surgery in the event of a complaint back. In his own words this will mean that he will be out for the next three months, and this is bad news for the Catalans in more than one way.
The decision will have little effect on the Hansi Flick team, because Ter Stegen was expected to become the third-choice keeper for the coming season. The fact that he claims that he would be out for three months is a problem, given that Barcelona had hoped that he would be at least four out, since this would have allowed the club to use his salary to register another player, probably Joan Garcia.
Barcelona is in fact prepared to challenge Ter Stegen that he will only miss three months, with sport that reports that there is a chance for the 33-year-old to be out for a maximum of five months during his recovery of back operation.
Moreover, it arose that Ter Stegen Barcelona did not give prior notice that he himself would publish a statement about his decision to undergo surgery, and Alex Pintanel has revealed that club officers are far from being satisfied with their goalkeeper for this.
The fact that Ter Stegen undergoes surgery means that he will not leave Barcelona this summer, which is a blow to the Catalans in their attempt to get his wages permanently out of the books. And if they are unable to use 80% of his salary to register Garcia or Wojciech Szczesny, this would be the worst scenario.
It also means that Ter Stegen's hope to start in Germany in the World Cup of next summer will hang on a thread, unless he chooses to find a move from Barcelona during the mid -season winter transfer window.