Barcelona sporting director Deco clarifies Ter Stegen situation

One of the situations to watch with Barcelona over the coming weeks involves club captain Marc-Andre Ter Stegen. The 33-year-old will be allowed to leave this month, and he is attracting strong interest from Catalan rivals Girona.

Ter Stegen is third-choice goalkeeper at Barcelona, and given that he needs to play regularly to ensure his starting spot for Germany at the 2026 World Cup, there is a good chance that he leaves. Girona would make him their number one, given that Paulo Gazzaniga has underperformed this season.

However, more uncertainty has arisen due to Ter Stegen having to leave Barcelona’s camp for the Spanish Supercup because of an injury. As per Movistar+ (via MD), sporting director Deco spoke on the matter prior to the semi-final victory over Athletic Club, and he also addressed whether he could leave this month.

“Ter Stegen is fine. He had a bad feeling in his knee and of course, when a player comes from an injury he is always a little more scared, because he had problems in the past in that knee. Now he is calm and we are happy because it is nothing serious.

“There is nothing in the future to talk about. Marc is our player, he has come to Saudi Arabia to be one more and he has had this and that’s it. We and he have opted for him to fly to Barcelona to be seen by the doctor who operated on him. It’s a good thing nothing important has come out and the plan is normal, he’s our player.”

Deco: Cancelo will soon fly to Barcelona

Deco also provided the latest update on Joao Cancelo, who has agreed to re-join Barcelona on loan for the rest of the season.

“Let’s hope so. We are finishing the process. He has not done the medical tests, but he will soon fly to Barcelona. We are going to close it.”