Barcelona decision on Marc-Andre Ter Stegen stems from attitude problems

Marc-Andre Ter Stegen is facing an uncertain future at Barcelona, with the La Liga champions open to selling him this summer. The impending arrival of Joan Garcia would relegate the 33-year-old to third in the goalkeeper pecking order, although he is still determined to remain at the club, where he is contracted for another three seasons.

Ter Stegen had been the undisputed starter at Barcelona for many years, but with his performance levels declining, the decision has been taken for him to be dropped down the pecking order. But according to Sport, this is not the only reason.

The report has revealed that Barcelona have not been happy with Ter Stegen on a personal level in recent weeks. Namely, they were not impressed with his reaction to being told that he would not be re-added to the club’s Champions League squad ahead of the semi-final tie against Inter.

Ter Stegen notified Hansi Flick, Deco and the rest of the sporting department that he was ready to return to the starting line-up for the Champions League semi-final showdown, and he made this clear in the public domain too. And upon being informed that Wojciech Szczesny would be remaining in the squad in his place, the Germany international did not react well at all – and he even threatened not to travel to Milan.

His actions were not well-received by Barcelona, and especially by Flick, whose relationship with Ter Stegen is considered to be very rocky. The pair were not on the best of terms anyway due to their previous run-in when the 60-year-old was in charge of Germany, where he opted for Manuel Neuer as his starting goalkeeper.

Despite this, Barcelona say that the primary reason for Ter Stegen’s dropping is a sporting one. He will be allowed to stay if that is his wish, but he will not be in with a shout of playing any matches unless Garcia or Szczesny pick up an injury.