Marc-Andre ter Stegen looks to be in a tricky situation at Barcelona, with the club expected to complete a move for Joan Garcia next week.
Barcelona’s move for Garcia seemed to come out of the blue, with a left winger thought to have been the club’s priority, but a new report claims it stemmed from some internal ‘conflict’ at the end of the season.
Ter Stegen may also have contributed to Barcelona’s interest in Garcia, with the club said to have been unhappy with his attitude following his return from injury.
According to journalist Xavi Torres (via Sport), Ter Stegen called Deco to to make it clear he was ready and wanted to play the second leg of the Champions League semi-final against Inter.
However, Flick and his coaching staff decided to continue with Wojciech Szczesny as he had been performing well and Ter Stegen was lacking match rhythm.
The report claims Ter Stegen did not react well to the news. He did not want to travel to Milan with the team and ended up staying at home to train alone.
This attitude did not go down well with the staff, or indeed the dressing room, particularly as it’s noted the rest of the squad did travel to be with their team-mates. Indeed Jules Kounde even made his way to Milan and back under his own steam.
The report continues to say that Ter Stegen’s relationship with the club became more strained after he gave an interview to German media, insisting he was ready to return.
There’s also a suggestion that Szczesny was also affected by Ter Stegen’s attitude, even though he had said publicly he was willing to step aside once the German was fit again.
If the report proves true it does suggest there may be no way back for Ter Stegen at Barcelona. His eagerness to return after such a lengthy injury is understandable, but Barcelona would have expected a better reaction to not playing against Inter, particularly from the club captain.