Marc-André ter Stegen is in danger of being sidelined at FC Barcelona. Former DFB goalkeeper René Adler advises the 33-year-old to leave and speaks of poor style.
It’s an unpleasant situation for Marc-André ter Stegen. According to several media reports in Spain, FC Barcelona no longer plans to keep the goalkeeper under coach Hansi Flick – or only as the third-choice keeper. And to make matters worse, this comes a good year before the start of the World Cup.
So what to do? Without playing practice, ter Stegen is not an option for the DFB goal. That’s why René Adler is now advising the 33-year-old to leave. Ter Stegen “simply cannot afford” to stay, said Adler, who himself has played 12 international matches for Germany, on Sky. He would like ter Stegen to fight, “but he simply doesn’t have the time.”
Ter Stegen had already missed much of last season due to a serious knee injury. “Every game is important, every minute, every training session, so that you can regain your automatic reflexes, your confidence and trust in your body. You need games for that. And as things stand, he won’t be getting that at FC Barcelona for the time being,” Adler continued.
In mid-June, the Catalans signed Joan Garcia (24) from Espanyol, a young goalkeeper with a promising future. Barcelona has extended Wojciech Szczesny’s contract until 2027. The Polish player secured his place in goal last season and impressed with his performances.
Adler unhappy with the way things are being handled
Barcelona left ter Stegen in the dark about his situation for a long time, with national coach Julian Nagelsmann among those criticizing the lack of communication – Adler is also unhappy about it. “Once again, we see that FC Barcelona has not treated deserving players the way outsiders would have liked, and this has not been an isolated case in recent years,” said the 40-year-old. For ter Stegen, the situation is “incredibly bitter, it hurts incredibly” and “from a human point of view, it’s an absolute setback.”
Adler also cannot understand why the club has now withdrawn its trust in ter Stegen. “I think it’s a shame that a player who has played well over 400 competitive games, is captain, has always been loyal to the club, even waived his salary in times of crisis, is no longer being given the chance to fight for his place after an injury. We all know how the market works: they’re trying to push him out a bit, you have to be honest about that.”
Ter Stegen himself has so far refrained from commenting on his situation, and on Sunday morning he took part in performance tests at the start of the season. According to the Spanish newspaper Mundo Deportivo, AS Monaco, coached by Adi Hütter, has signaled interest. Ter Stegen’s contract with the Catalans runs until 2028.
