Barcelona are reportedly poised to take legal action against their own captain Marc-André ter Stegen after he refused to allow the release of his medical information, which threatens to dramatically derail the club’s start to the new La Liga campaign.
The waning German goalkeeper had already seen his first-choice status questioned by the summer acquisition of Joan García before he sustained a serious back injury during pre-season. The exact length of Ter Stegen’s absence is crucial.
According to La Liga’s rulebook, a recovery time of four months or more ensures that it is classified as a “long-term injury”. In this specific scenario, the division’s regulations allow a club to use 80% of the injured player’s salary to cover the wage of another squad member even if they are in breach of the division’s financial fair play regulations.
This would allow Barcelona to swiftly register García and have him line up for the opening game of the La Liga season. As things currently stand, the injured Ter Stegen and discarded Iñaki Peña are the only goalkeepers Hansi Flick can turn to as Wojciech Szczęsny is also not registered after allowing his last contract to expire before signing his current deal in July.
However, Ter Stegen took the unorthodox, unexpected and unsanctioned approach of confirming that he would only be out for three months on social media. This is a short-term injury and so Barcelona would not be able to use the financial loophole to register García.
La Liga do not base their diagnoses on X posts and instead survey official medical reports filed by the club. This is where the conflict has arisen. Ter Stegen has become the first player in the competition’s history to refuse to sign the consent form to have his medical data released, as revealed by Mundo Deportivo.
Each player’s medical history is of course private, and so Ter Stegen is theoretically entitled to deny La Liga access. Yet, Barcelona supposedly believe that their employee has “obligations to the entity that pays him and must comply with its rules”.
What is described as an increasingly “bitter situation” has led to the club deploying their legal services with the threat of disciplinary proceedings and internal sanctions being raised.
No dramatic action has taken place just yet. Marca claim that Barcelona “remain calm” and have a meeting with Ter Stegen planned this week in the hope that he will change his mind.
The goalkeeper’s public comments on the topic have been limited and spiky. “How is my back?” he retorted when quizzed in the middle of Barcelona airport. “Well, when you need to have surgery, it means it’s not working perfectly.”
On the topic of his relationship with the club, Ter Stegen sniped: “It is all good, it always goes well.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Barcelona ‘Open Disciplinary Proceedings’ Against Rebellious Club Captain.