Ter Stegen and Barcelona broke completely: Who was wrong when the former salary cut was abandoned?

For eight years, Mark Andre Terstegen has been Barcelona's main goalkeeper. When the Catalan club was in a financial quagmire and in urgent need of funds, he agreed to cut wages and delay pay. With these moves and countless epic saves, the Germans have apparently accumulated the capital to become legendary. But now, all this is gradually disintegrating. Let's sort it out one by one.

Everything took a sharp turn last September - Ter Stegen suffered a severe knee injury against Villarreal and was absent for a long time, and some even worried that he might be reimbursed for the season. Barcelona urgently recalled Voichech Szczesny from "retired state", and Terstegen used stem cell therapy to speed up recovery. The stadium is also mixed with personal changes: in March this year, the German divorced after living with his wife for 13 years. But the bad luck did not end there. At the end of April, Terstegen returned from injury, but Szczesni had firmly taken the lead. Hans Diet Flick said he did not intend to return to the starter before the end of the season, and only promised to give a small amount of training opportunities.

At that time, Cope Radio analyst and Valencia legend Santiago Canisales said that Ter Stegen was putting pressure on Flick to try to squeeze out Szczesny. The news proved true: Ter Stegen was dissatisfied with Flick and did not go to Milan to participate in the second leg of the key Champions League knockout match with Inter Milan. In May, Ter Stegen made a appearance in La Liga against Valladolid and Villarreal, but that was obviously not enough. He flatly refused to give a captain speech to fans at the championship celebration at the last minute, angering Flick and club president Juan Laporta. Not long after, Ter Stegen said: "I have never been in such a good state." The implicit meaning of the string was obvious.

In June, Barcelona announced the signing of Espanyol's potential goalkeeper Joan Garcia. According to the source of the Sports News, in the conversation between Flick and Ter Stegen, the former explained to his compatriots the new goalkeeper level of Barcelona: Garcia is the No. 1 goalkeeper, Szczesny is the No. 2, and you are the No. 3. The club also filed a termination with the veteran, allowing him to leave the team freely and pay the contract for one of the remaining three seasons.

Telstegen rejected the proposal and said: "I will stay in Barcelona. No matter who joins, I must face competition." The latest news shows that the German is not only ready to compete with Garcia, but also confronts the Barcelona management.

Telstegen missed the early preseason training due to a back injury, and then posted a statement on social media without the club's consent: "I will undergo surgery and be out of the game for up to three months." But the Barcelona team doctor's diagnosis took four to five months. This is crucial - because Barcelona originally wanted to register a new player with a player who was absent for at least four months according to the rules and bear 80% of the player's salary (that is, about 5 million euros for the Germans).

"As always, I have a good relationship with the club," Ter Stegen said before the operation. But the actual action was not the case: According to the Ass, he refused to let the Barcelona representative accompany the operation. At the same time, former Barcelona team doctor and current member of the La Liga medical committee, Holdi Aldevoll said that the Germans' judgment on rapid recovery is unrealistic and can be called "amazing self-diagnosis."

According to the Ass, the doctor who was in charge of Telstegen reported that his recovery period was four months. Despite this, the German refused to sign long-term injury documents - he neither wanted to find a new team nor waited for another chance to play until January. Joan Garcia and Marcus Rashford have not completed their registration so far, with only more than a week left before the start of the new season. The Barcelona team doctor contacted Ter Stegen, but he insisted on his own opinion. Laporta and club sports director Deku also tried to communicate with him, but neither succeeded. Ter Stegen had no intention of giving in and was even prepared to resort to the law. The World Sports believes that the club plans to either deduct 35% of his monthly salary or terminate the contract directly - but the latter will have to pay about 42 million euros, which is the salary concession he made during the difficult period of the new crown epidemic in Barcelona. And now, Barcelona's financial situation is still not optimistic.

Without Ter Stegen's consent, the La Liga medical committee will reject Barcelona's registration application. Barcelona Universal said that the Spanish Player Union has supported Ter Stegen and promised that any club sanctions against him will be legally untenable. However, depriving the captain of the armband is not included. Barcelona has issued an official statement: The German temporarily loses the captain title and is replaced by Ronald Araujo. Even if the armband is still in the hands of Ter Stegen, it is just a form.

Barcelona has another way to register two new players: According to Daily Sports, the sales revenue of the Camp Nou VIP seat is about to arrive, but whether the money is enough to register Garcia and Rashford is still unknown.

In the past six months, Ter Stegen's "legacy" collapsed rapidly like a house of cards in the wind: he lost control of his emotions due to being unable to return to the starting lineup at a critical stage of the season (the risk of trial and error is extremely high at this time); he refused to support the team in Milan and refused to speak to the fans; he gave up the opportunity to part with the club; now he is in a document dispute because of his personal judgment of the recovery period.

Obviously, Ter Stegen is likely to no longer play for Barcelona, and may even miss the 2026 World Cup. Is all this worth it? The answer is self-evident.