Ter Stegen blew up Barça's plans with his medical leave and complicated Joan García's registration.

Marc-André ter Stegen doesn't intend to make it easy for Barça to register Joan García or Wojciech Szczęsny. According to Mundo Deportivo, the German goalkeeper refused to sign the consent form for the club to send the report on his injury and surgery to the LaLiga Medical Commission, which must assess the severity of the injury . The newspaper explains that the club has decided to hand the case over to its legal services so that "they can immediately open a disciplinary case against him, which could result in an internal sanction from the club itself if the board approves it."

In this regard, Barça hopes that the LaLiga Medical Commission will conclude that the German's sideline will exceed four months. Although the goalkeeper said he would be out for about three months in his statement , and after surgery in the same area in 2023, he was only out for two and a half months , Barça leaked that ter Stegen should be out for between four and five months. The club believes he underwent "reoperation" and that, therefore, it is a relapse .

The problem for the Catalans is that the club expected to reach a consensus on the reports with ter Stegen before sending them to LaLiga. After months of tension, internal conflict, and public and private spats that have called the German's captaincy into question, FC Barcelona changed its strategy in recent days and sought a rapprochement. The crux of the matter was the same: the board of directors and Hansi Flick wanted the German goalkeeper out of the club , and ter Stegen refused to leave, with the dream of a World Cup with Germany on the horizon.

Without Joan García or Szczesny

"It doesn't depend on Ter Stegen's absence . What happens is that, via Ter Stegen's absence, which is a significant one, it's the most direct way to register the players ," explained Joan Laporta, who assured that Barça would be able to register all of its players and, in particular, its new signings: Joan García, Szczesny and Marcus Rashford. Without ter Stegen's approval, Barça will only be able to use 40% of his salary to register both goalkeepers... if LaLiga estimates their absence to be more than four months.

Ter Stegen's decision to be sidelined for those "three months" following the operation prevents Barça from using 80% of his salary margin to register Joan García and Wojciech Szczęsny. Furthermore, if the player's injury occurred in June, the percentage would be reduced to 40% of his salary cost in the squad, as stipulated in articles 77 and 107 of the employers' economic control .

The last alternative

According to Mundo Deportivo , sources at the club say that "Barça admits that Ter Stegen has the authority not to share health data, but they also believe he has obligations to the entity that pays him and that he must comply with its rules." However, Barça will end up registering both goalkeepers and Marcus Rashford one way or another, as they do every season.

In this case, the relaxation of the financial control rules last April will give all teams, and Barça in particular, more breathing space. Clubs will be able to provisionally register up to three players (one transfer, two free agents) without a full salary cap, through a "provisional visa" until their financial situation is regularized. The measure on so-called "slow-motion" signings establishes that a club may provisionally register up to three players, even if it only has a salary cap for one season.