Barcelona squad side with Marc-Andre ter Stegen in club-player battle | OneFootball

Barcelona and Marc-Andre ter Stegen continue to lock horns this summer over his role and his future. The German captain is unhappy with the club, and has exercised what power he has.

The attempts to force him out following the signing of Joan Garcia have not gone down well with the 33-year-old, who has also been told that he will be third-choice this season if he remains at the club. In addition he is not happy with the leaking of derogatory stories about his character, nor threats from the club to remove the captaincy from him.

Latest incident between ter Stegen and Barcelona

The latest flashpoint has occurred after ter Stegen underwent surgery on his back, reportedly ruling him out for four to five months. That would in theory allow Barcelona to activate the injury rule, and use 50% of his salary to register a new goalkeeper, in this case Garcia or Wojciech Szczesny. However in order to do so, Barcelona need ter Stegen’s signature to share confidential medical information with La Liga.

Image via David Ramos/Getty Images

Ter Stegen is refusing to do so, and as a result, Barcelona have instructed their legal services to look into what sanctions they can impose on him as part of the disciplinary protocol.

Barcelona squad to stay behind ter Stegen

Sport continue on to say that the rest of the Barcelona players are behind ter Stegen. Amid the threat of Barcelona taking the captaincy from ter Stegen, manager Hansi Flick has said that it would be decided by a vote from the players. If that does come to pass, then the Barcelona players will back ter Stegen and vote him in again.

They feel that the club and ter Stegen are involved in a dispute, and are keen to show solidarity with him rather than set a precedent that could harm them in the future. The Barcelona players have no intention of ‘betraying’ their captain.

Barcelona players support ter Stegen captaincy

The first signs of that occurred last week, when a number of players, including Ferran Torres, Frenkie de Jong, Jules Kounde and Pau Cubarsi all made public shows of support for ter Stegen. Barcelona’s history of trying to force out players, including de Jong, no doubt does not help the Dutchman’s attitude towards the matter.