Barcelona will be without their captain and goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen for the rest of the season after the German suffered a serious knee ligament injury in Sunday’s 5-1 victory at Villarreal.
The Catalan club didn’t include an expected date for his recovery when announcing that he underwent surgery on Monday, but one expert consulted for this article puts the timeframe at between eight to 10 months and that view is reflected by club sources.
Losing Ter Stegen is a huge blow for Hansi Flick’s Barca, who have started the new La Liga season in impressive form with six victories from six games.
Here, our Barcelona correspondents Pol Ballús and Laia Cervelló Herrero answer some of the key questions around his injury — and detail the club’s current plan to replace him.
How bad is Ter Stegen’s injury?
Ter Stegen, 32, ruptured a patellar tendon in his right knee against Villarreal on Sunday. On Monday, Barca confirmed he had undergone a successful operation on the area.
Lluis Puig, head of the physiotherapy department at Barcelona’s Hospital de l’Esperit Sant, says the surgery will likely have involved reconstruction of the tendon — a process that would rule him out for the rest of 2024-25.
Barca and Villarreal players react to Ter Stegen’s injury (Eric Alonso/Getty Images)
“When this tendon is completely ruptured, it is reconstructed,” Puig says. “The recovery means that for the first two months you have to be very careful when it comes to gaining mobility, so as not to put too much tension on the area so that it heals well.
“As this fixation becomes more solid, you can gain more mobility. It is a slow recovery, which will require a very painstaking process — even more so for a goalkeeper who has to jump, dive and do intensive work which puts the area in jeopardy. The recovery will easily be between eight and 10 months.”
Barca sources — who, like all those cited here, preferred to speak anonymously as they did not have permission to comment — reflected a similar timescale, saying they expected Ter Stegen to be out for at least eight months.
Ter Stegen has had problems with his right knee before, having previously suffered from tendonitis. Twice he had operations to help with this. In August 2020, he underwent surgery because he had been in pain throughout the season. He returned in November.
In May 2021, he underwent what Barca described as “a therapeutic procedure on the patellar tendon in his right knee” and was back by August.
Now he has suffered a far more serious injury.
Who will replace him?
As happened last season when the German was ruled out with a back injury, his immediate replacement will be Inaki Pena.
The 25-year-old was born in Alicante and joined Barcelona’s youth ranks at the age of 13. He progressed through all levels until, in January 2022, he left on a six-month loan to Galatasaray. The deal was very successful and it included an impressive Europa League performance against his parent club.
Pena also covered for Ter Stegen last season (Jose Miguel Fernandez/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
That helped convince Barca to offer him a new contract — a deal until 2026. That extension meant Barcelona allowed another great La Masia prospect, Arnau Tenas, to leave in the summer of 2023. Tenas ended up joining Paris Saint-Germain.
Sources who worked with Pena at La Masia describe him as a goalkeeper with a very similar style to Ter Stegen — a player comfortable passing the ball out from the back and with a calm personality.
He will now have another chance to prove he has what it takes.
How did Barca do without Ter Stegen last year?
Ter Stegen has been a key player for Barca for years. He was arguably the biggest contributor to their 2023-23 La Liga title and this summer, following the departure of Sergi Roberto, he became club captain.
Last term, the German was out for three months with lower back problems that required surgery and Pena took his place. In total he played 17 games — 10 in La Liga, three in the Copa del Rey, two in the Champions League and two in the Supercopa de Espana — and conceded 32 goals, keeping three clean sheets.
There had been real worry among fans over Ter Stegen’s absence, but concerns quickly settled down and in the dressing room Barca’s players started to call Pena ‘the German’ after he came in. This was after positive early performances against Porto in the Champions League and Atletico Madrid in La Liga in November.
But Pena’s time in the team coincided with Barca’s toughest spell of the season — one that included heavy home defeats by Girona and Villarreal. The latter sparked Xavi’s decision to announce he would step down at the end of the campaign (a decision he would eventually reverse, before being sacked).
Who are the other options?
Perhaps the most interesting profile is that of United States youth international Diego Kochen.
The 18-year-old, Miami-born goalkeeper was called up for the senior U.S. national team for the first time last month, but he is yet to play at that level. He joined Barca in 2019 and signed a professional contract with the club in 2022. La Masia sources describe him as a very bright prospect — and say he is the academy goalkeeper most likely to progress into a first-team option.
There is a but, however. Kochen suffered a hamstring injury last week, which was expected to keep him out for about a month.
The opportunity afforded by Ter Stegen’s long-term absence might come just a bit too soon for Kochen, who only made his debut with Barca’s reserve side (Barcelona Atletic, who play in Spain’s third tier) last season.
Diego Kochen made the Barcelona bench for their match at Athletic Bilbao in March (Jose Breton/Pics Action/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
This term, the club’s plan was for the young American to stay with Barca Atletic so he can experience more playing time with them. Ter Stegen’s injury means we will have to keep an eye on whether that plan now changes.
With Kochen out of action for now, the back-up to Pena will be Ander Astralaga, at least initially. The 20-year-old joined Barca from Athletic Bilbao in 2018 and has played for Spain at under-18 and under-19 level. Last season he made 19 appearances for Barca Atletic. He has already been a part of first-team squads over the past year and will have a bigger role now.
We should also mention Hungarian 18-year-old Aron Yaakobishvili, known as ‘Yako’ at Barca. He was expected to be the team’s under-19 goalkeeper this season, with the plan for him to play in the UEFA Youth League, as well as offering support with Barca Atletic whenever needed. Now he might see his status upgraded and play on a more regular basis with the second team.
Could Barca sign someone else?
If Barca want to add a new goalkeeper before the January transfer window, it will have to be a free agent.
Back in February 2020, Barca were able to make an ’emergency’ signing outside the transfer window, bringing in Danish striker Martin Braithwaite from Leganes after meeting his €18million buyout clause. But La Liga rules no longer allow such ’emergency’ moves to be made.
Goalkeepers available on a free right now include 37-year-old ex-Real Madrid goalkeeper Keylor Navas, former Liverpool stopper Loris Karius, Spaniard Sergio Rico (who has not played since his life-threatening accident), Norwegian Kristoffer Klaesson (who made a handful of Premier League appearances for Leeds) and La Masia product Jordi Masip (now 35, he last played for Real Valladolid).
Barca senior executives will hold a meeting to discuss how to react to Ter Stegen’s injury. The current expectation is for them not to go after a new player now, but the situation will be reassessed before the next transfer window in January.
Barcelona have struggled to register new signings because of La Liga’s rules on salary spending, but the competition body’s rules do allow clubs to temporarily register replacements for injured players. Barca have already taken advantage of this twice this season — with Dani Olmo and Inigo Martinez (following injuries to Ronald Araujo and Andreas Christensen).
If Barca were to again find themselves struggling to register Olmo and Martinez in January (when they have to be registered again), they could theoretically seek to apply this same rule following Ter Stegen’s injury. However, club sources say they still plan to stabilise the financial situation by then, suggesting that a possible way to do this will come via a re-negotiated sponsorship deal with Nike.
(Top photo: Ivan Terron/Europa Press via Getty Images)
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