The future of Marc-André ter Stegen at FC Barcelona looks more uncertain than ever, after months of rising tension between him and the club’s management. According to Sport, Barça has already secured the signing of Joan García, Espanyol’s goalkeeper—clearly signaling a shift in the club’s goalkeeping plans. This move toward youth is a clear sign that the German keeper is no longer part of the project led by Deco and Hansi Flick.

Fallout with the coaching staff

The situation escalated during the Champions League semifinals, when Ter Stegen’s agent informed Deco that the goalkeeper was fully fit and ready to play. But the coaching staff decided to stick with Wojciech Szczęsny as the starter, and that decision didn’t sit well with the captain. Since then, Ter Stegen has distanced himself—skipping team trips, training alone, and refusing to deliver a farewell speech to the fans after the final match at the Spotify Camp Nou, which didn’t go down well with the club’s top brass.

People close to the player say Ter Stegen feels betrayed and believes Deco and Flick are pushing him out, even leaking info to the press to accelerate his departure. He’s under contract until 2028 and has made it clear he won’t leave without being paid in full. The club reportedly offered him a buyout covering one year of his contract, but he turned it down.

Big changes coming in Barça’s goal

Ter Stegen isn’t considering any offers from lesser-known leagues and plans to show up for preseason to fight for his spot. But Barcelona has already made up its mind: Joan García will be the new number one, Szczęsny will extend his contract as the backup, and Iñaki Peña will leave. If things play out this way, Ter Stegen would drop to third in the pecking order, without any guaranteed minutes—not even in the Copa del Rey.

What looked like a natural transition due to age and recent injuries has turned into a messy situation with personal overtones. The tension has affected the locker room vibe, and Ter Stegen, one of the club’s captains and icons over the last decade, is now facing the most uncertain chapter of his Barça career.

It’s looking more and more like the end of the road for the German keeper at Barcelona, and the breakup might be messier than anyone expected—shaped more by internal fallout than by football itself.