Teammates at Barca are behind ter Stegen in the captaincy question

Team backs him: Marc-André ter Stegen could remain Barca captain. Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

The choice of captains could soon become a delicate matter for Spanish champions FC Barcelona and their coach Hansi Flick. According to the German coach , the Catalans' team should decide on the list of captains , and they seem to see little reason to change it. Teammate Frenkie de Jong said of current captain Marc-André ter Stegen after a 7-3 friendly win in South Korea against FC Seoul : "For me, Marc is the team captain, just as he was last season."

Ter Stegen is a world-class player and has "always given his best for the club, so I support Marc a lot, and as far as I know, the team does too," emphasized the 28-year-old Dutch international. However, the 44-time Germany international goalkeeper will have to take a long break after another back operation and doesn't currently appear to be FCB's number one goalie. Hansi Flick's team signed the 24-year-old keeper, Joan Garcia, from city rivals Espanyol. In addition, the 35-year-old Pole Wojciech Szczesny received a new contract. Both are said to be ahead of the German in the goalkeeper rankings – even without injury.

For this reason, and due to the club's permanently strained financial situation, club bosses seem to be keen to have ter Stegen off the payroll, a move that will likely become significantly more difficult following his surgery. His contract has three years left – and he intends to fulfill it for the time being. This, in turn, is said to have angered some bosses at the club so much that they no longer want ter Stegen as captain, according to various Spanish media outlets.

In addition, there have been reports surrounding the 33-year-old's back surgery in recent weeks, which also suggested a strained relationship between the goalkeeper and the club's management . This was due to the fact that he himself announced a period of absence of approximately three months on his Instagram profile, while the club did not provide any information on this. However, a longer period of absence could impact the registration process for new players, meaning 80 percent of the injured player's salary could be used for these registrations.

Nevertheless, de Jong's statements now suggest that the goalkeeper's standing in the team remains unbroken, as the Spanish sports newspaper Marca also put it. And the Dutchman isn't alone in this. "I don't know whether there will be a choice or not, we haven't discussed it yet, at least I'm not aware of anything, but in my opinion, ter Stegen will become captain simply because of his experience and his long association with the club," Spanish international Ferran Torres was quoted as saying by Mundo Deportivo .