The German goalkeeper, who is undergoing lumbar surgery this Tuesday in Bordeaux, announced that he would be out for three months, making it impossible for the club to execute his stay due to a long-term injury.
Marc André Ter Stegen will undergo surgery this Tuesday in Bordeaux for lower back pain. The German goalkeeper has chosen the same specialist, Frenchwoman Amélie Léglise, who operated on him two years ago in the same area.
An injury, by the way, that falls within the ongoing dispute between Ter Stegen and FC Barcelona . It should be remembered that the club signed Joan García with the aim of making him the starting goalkeeper , opening the door wide open for the German to leave this summer. However, Ter Stegen has always been reluctant to leave , doubling down on his confidence in competing for a place. Not even the meeting he held with Hansi Flick before the start of preseason alleviated the situation. Quite the opposite, in fact.
Days later, the player announced in a statement on social media that he had agreed to back surgery after consulting with several specialists , and that his estimated outtime would be three months , an insufficient period of time for the club to release him due to a long-term injury and use 80% of his current salary to sign another player . The club's reaction was immediate, leaking that the player was not the one to give a prognosis for his injury and that with this attitude they would be considering removing the captain's armband : the number was taken from him in preseason , although Flick stressed that it was provisional and temporary, since Joan García wore the number 1 in the first friendly of the tour against Vissel Kobe.
AS has learned that Ter Stegen did not want anyone from the club to accompany him on the trip to Bordeaux , further proof that the tension between the two parties remains high.
Then, the time will come for a statement after the operation. In principle, the club cannot make the details of the injury public without the player's consent , so it seems very unlikely that the official report would explicitly state a predicted length of time he'll be out , especially if it doesn't match the three months the German announced . Hence, the statement could be limited to detailing that the operation was a success and that "his progress will determine his availability."
That doesn't mean that the medical report Barcelona will receive from the French specialist indicates that he will be out for four months or more. This report will then be submitted to the Federation's expert committee for review . If approved, Barcelona will be able to enforce Ter Stegen's long-term absence and use 80% of his contract.