Barcelona vs Marc-Andre ter Stegen: How Spanish champions ended up at war with their club captain

Barcelona were only too happy to see Ter Stegen sign a contract extension in August 2023. For starters, the German had been named the best player in La Liga after keeping a record-equalling 26 clean sheets during the Blaugrana's 2022-23 title triumph.

As far as Laporta was concerned, Barca boasted the best shot-stopper in world football. "Ter Stegen is a guarantee in goal," the Catalan enthused at the time. "And he is a person of real value. He has adapted to the club, the city, and the country - and that is why he is one of the team captains. We are delighted to have him."

However, of even greater satisfaction to Laporta was the fact that Ter Stegen had agreed to stagger his salary in such a way that it afforded the club more wiggle room within La Liga's strict wage bill regulations. "We have to thank him for restricting his contract because it allowed us to sign other players," the Barca president acknowledged.

It wasn't the first time that Ter Stegen had helped Barca make ends meet either, as his previous extension, signed during the economic crisis caused by the pandemic, had also included a wage deferral that significantly eased the pressure on his employers. The problem for Barca, though, is that Ter Stegen is no longer feeling quite so agreeable towards a club still strapped for cash.

Only last year, Ter Stegen was announced as Barca's new captain after the departure of Sergi Roberto. The Germany international had already worn the armband on several occasions, so it didn't come as a surprise to see the majority of the squad vote in favour of a player with 10 years of service under his belt.

"We start this new season with great enthusiasm and welcome the new coach (Flick)," Ter Stegen said in his first public address last August. "We hope it will be a season with many successes." And it was. Despite suffering heartbreak in the Champions League, Barca beat hated rivals Real Madrid four times in total on their way to winning a domestic treble.

Ter Stegen, though, played very little part in Barca's re-emergence as a major force due to a patellar tendon rupture in his right knee that sidelined him for seven months and limited him to just nine appearances in all competitions. By the time he was ready to return to action, at the start of May, a lot had changed.

Ter Stegen's injury was a major problem for Barcelona, and the best they could do was come up with a stop-gap solution in Wojciech Szczesny. However, the Pole proved an inspired signing.

Szczesny had only just announced his retirement from football, after parting company with Juventus, and was initially brought on board solely to provide cover for Inaki Pena - but he turned out to be a far more competent replacement for Ter Stegen. The 35-year-old kept 14 clean sheets in his 30 appearances in all competitions and didn't once finish on the losing side in a league game - which helps explain why Barca decided to extend his contract until 2027 on July 7.

By that stage, though, the Blaugrana had already done another deal that made it clear that Ter Stegen was now surplus to requirements.

On June 18, Barca confirmed the arrival of Joan Garcia from city rivals Espanyol after meeting the €25 million (£21m/$29m) buy-out clause in the 24-year-old's contract. The decision to bring in another goalkeeper raised a lot of eyebrows. With Ter Stegen fit again and Szczesny having done a great job in his absence, it felt like Barca had more pressing needs.

However, sporting director Deco somewhat understandably felt that the chance to sign one of the most highly-rated goalkeepers in Spain for such a low price was too good to pass up. "I have a lot of respect for Marc, but with Joan we had to make a decision for the present and future," the former Portugal midfielder explained in an interview with La Vanguardia. "He might play straight away or he might be on the bench or play in one or two years. The manager will have to decide."

Deco's sentiments were echoed by Laporta, who riterated that Flick will have the final say on who starts the coming campaign as Barca's No.1. However, it was noteworthy that the Blaugrana supremo added that the coach had made it clear that goalkeeper was a position that "needed to be strengthened”, suggesting a pre-existing dissatisfaction with Ter Stegen, which some pundits argued dated back to their days working together within the German national team set-up.

"It was a good deal in every sense because a goalkeeper of Joan's quality, if we had had to go out and find him on the market, would have been more expensive and difficult to sign," he explained to Mundo Deportivo. "So, Joan Garcia was one of our targets, the opportunity arose and Deco pursued it."

Laporta continued: "Marc-Andre is obviously an important player in the Barca squad, he's the captain, and he's given us a lot of joy, but after his knee injury, a problem with his lower back has worsened, preventing him from training, and he's at the point of deciding whether to have surgery or undergo a more conservative recovery."

That Ter Stegen ultimately decided to go under the knife did not come as a surprise to Barcelona. What absolutely stunned the club, though, was his decision to publicly reveal how long he would be out of action.

On July 24, Ter Stegen posted an open letter to Barca fans on social media in which he claimed that he would require three months to recover from his back operation. He was, of course, perfectly entitled to disclose this medical prognosis, but it was an undeniably unusual step - and was, thus, interpreted by the Spanish press as a blatant act of retaliation towards Barca for allegedly trying to force him out of the club and sully his character while doing so.

Under La Liga rules, a team can use 80 percent of an injured player's salary space towards registering a new signing, provided the injured player in question is sidelined for at least four months. Barca took advantage of this very rule only last season to register Dani Olmo following an injury to defender Andreas Christensen, so Ter Stegen's very specific reference to his recovery time was widely portrayed as a deliberate attempt to prevent them from doing so again.

Several outlets have even claimed that Laporta, Deco and Flick are so furious with the club captain they are considering stripping him of the armband. It's also telling that there have been several leaked stories to the Catalan media that have not cast Ter Stegen in a particularly favourable light, including a claim that he decided against travelling to Milan to support his side in their semi-final second leg against Inter because he was upset over being excluded from Barca's Champions League squad.

Whatever the truth about that particular episode, it's clear that Ter Stegen's injury - coupled with his subsequent social media post - has put Barcelona in an even more awkward financial position.

In an ideal world, they would have offloaded Ter Stegen shortly after the summer transfer window opened. Indeed, it was even claimed that Barca were willing to let him leave for free, as he's still entitled to a further €42m (£36m/$49m) in wages between now and the expiration of his contract in 2028. Ter Stegen insisted all along, though, that he had absolutely no intention of leaving Barca, and his injury means that they're now stuck with a skipper they don't want - at least until the January transfer window.

What happens next in this club-versus-captain war is obviously impossible to predict, particularly with Barca still reeling from the "three months" bombshell. However, Laporta has already stated that there will be no more signings before the close of the summer window, which no doubt came as a blow to Flick, who has been vocal about his team's need for a new defender. Still, focusing solely on sales, for the time being at least, certainly seems like an unusually sensible approach for the Blaugrana, as just registering Garcia in time for the start of the Liga season is going to be a challenge itself after Ter Stegen threw a spanner in the works.

Basically, Barca are once again in a mess all of their own making and the clean-up operation is going to be far from straightforward - which is obviously a disaster for them, but highly entertaining for everyone else.