Ajax Amsterdam coach Míchel revealed that ter Stegen is carrying an injury. "Marc is recovering from a serious injury," the coach explained when justifying leaving ter Stegen out of Tuesday evening's league game against Willem II Tilburg, "and now an international break is coming up."
With that in mind, he sees "the current moment favourable" to play understudy Maarten Paes so ter Stegen "can properly recover for the game on Saturday as well as the subsequent international break", Míchel explained. He added: "Should ter Stegen travel to the national team – which is likely – we will then have time to continue working on his recovery."
According to media reports, Germany coach Jürgen Klopp is planning with ter Stegen (34), the "eternal" crown prince to Manuel Neuer, as the future No 1. He had already held that status under Klopp's predecessor Julian Nagelsmann after Neuer's (ultimately temporary) retirement following Euro 2024, before suffering several injuries. His most recent international appearance came on 8 June 2025 against France in the Nations League, a 0-2 defeat in Stuttgart.
For ter Stegen, his comeback would be a genuine home game: for Klopp's debut, Germany are away to the Netherlands in Amsterdam in the Nations League on 24 September. The other opponents during the upcoming international window are Greece (27 September), Serbia (1 October) and Greece again (4 October). Klopp will announce his squad on Thursday (10am).
Expect a very large squad. Alexander Nübel (Besiktas) and Jonas Urbig (Bayern Munich) are seen as ter Stegen's first challengers. Augsburg's Finn Dahmen is also expected to be included, unlike Neuer, who has now definitively retired from the Germany squad, or the previous No 2 Oliver Baumann.