Barcelona has started a disciplinary procedure against Marc-Andre ter Stegen and stated that the goalkeeper refused to sign a medical report on his back injury, according to a source that is up to the issue.
The person spoke against The corresponding press on Tuesday on condition of anonymity.
The club needed Ter Stegen to sign the report so that it could be sent to the Spanish league to erase some salary folder space and register other players without breaking the rules for financial fair play.
But the club and the goalkeeper are at odds about the recovery time for the operation that took place last week to tackle recurring underpasses.
Ter Stegen said prior to the operation that the recovery time would be approximately three months. The club did not give an official timetable for the recovery process and only said that the operation was «successful» and that «his recovery will determine when it can return.»
Depending on the length of the recovery process, Barcelona could remove a percentage of Ter Stegen’s salary from the cap, so there is more room to add other players to the team.
The club signed Espanyol -goalkeeper Joan Garcia in June. The other keepers are veteran Wojciech Szczesny and Inaki Pena.
The competition must evaluate the report before the official recovery time approves.
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Ter Stegen, one of the captains of the team, did not immediately speak publicly after Barcelona said it opened the disciplinary procedure. The club was expected to meet each other to discuss the situation in the coming days.
The 33-year-old German keeper missed almost the entire last season because of a tendon break in his knee, and in 2023 he missed about two months because of a different back operation. Pena and the 35-year-old Szczesny started instead of Ter Stegen during his knee injury.
It was not clear what type of sanction that all the alleys stood for not signing the report.
Barcelona, the defensive Spanish competition champion, returned to Spain on Tuesday after completing a pre -season tour in Asia.
