Marc-Andre Ter Stegen is facing an uncertain future at Barcelona, but for this summer at least, he is set to remain at the club – this is because he has decided to undergo surgery on a back problem, which will see him miss at least three months of action.

Ter Stegen was the one to break to news that he would be undergoing surgery, and his announcement did not go down well among Barcelona officials. There is a belief that the 33-year-old deliberated stated that his recovery time would be three months, which would mean that the club would not be able to use 80% of his salary to register one of Joan Garcia or Wojciech Szczesny.

Because of this, there have been calls within Can Barca for Ter Stegen to be stripped of his captaincy role. As things stand, he is the club’s first captain, although that could be about to change.

Barcelona’s first team squad will decide on the captaincy group just before the start of the 2025-26 season, and according to MD, head coach Hansi Flick will also have a say in the process. He will be given a vote, just like each of his players.

Ter Stegen-Barcelona tensions are causing problems

Barcelona are going into the new season with renewed optimism, and there is confidence because of the exploits in the previous campaign – during which they won La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Spanish Super Cup. But the situation with Ter Stegen is undoubtedly creating a cloud.

The ideal situation for Barcelona would be to sell Ter Stegen, who is not counted on – which Flick has already told him. However, he will almost certainly not leave this summer because of the surgery, which means that he cannot be on his way until January at the very earliest.