RAC1 Reports Barca Captain On Sale

FC Barcelona President Joan Laporta has effectively put his first team captain Marc-Andre ter Stegen up for sale according to RAC1, which cited anonymous sources.

The German missed most of 2024/2025 thanks to a serious ACL rupture suffered away at Villarreal in September, which resulted in the Catalans bringing Wojciech Szczesny out of retirement as back up.

Inaki Pena soon became Hansi Flick’s number one choice, but disciplinary and punctuality problems at the Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia at the turn of 2025 meant ‘Tek’ took over the reins and played a key part in Barca’s eventual domestic treble triumph.

Ter Stegen returned as that campaign drew to a close, but the future of the goalkeeping department isn’t clear.

Barca is closing in on Espanyol’s Joan Garcia, who became a breakout star last term in La Liga, while Szczesny appears set to extend his one year contract.

With Pena also still on the books, that’s at least four men for one position without mentioning American prospect Diego Kochen.

While there have been rumors that Garcia would be bought and then loaned out to another Spanish club such as Valencia, which doesn’t make much sense, RAC1 reports that President Laporta told the board on Thursday night how he trusts in the Espanyol ‘keeper’s ‘yes’ and “wants to get rid of the German goalkeeper” i.e. Ter Stegen.

Forbes.com