A gloomy evening for FC Barcelona. Of course, the Catalans got a great victory, winning 5-1 on the pitch at Villarreal, at the end of a trip that is always complicated. Led by the trio Lewandowski-Raphinha-Lamine Yamal, Hansi Flick’s men thus added a sixth success to their tally in six La Liga matches, signing a perfect start to the championship. But they also lost big…
Just before the break, Marc-André ter Stegen seriously injured his knee, landing badly on an aerial exit. While waiting for more in-depth examinations during this Monday, the Catalan media are all announcing a period of absence of at least 9 months. The player’s tears during his exit left little room for doubt anyway… A real blow for the Catalans, since even if the German goalkeeper was a little criticized at times, especially after this match against Monaco, he remained a sure bet…
Few free goalkeepers available
The Spanish press reveals in particular the possibilities of Barça to replace the goalkeeper. AS thus tells us that today, the only option to have an operational replacement right now is to recruit a goalkeeper free of any contract. A free goalkeeper could be registered immediately and be available to play under the orders of Hansi Flick. The rules of the financial fair play of La Liga in the event of a major injury would allow the Blaugranas to allocate 80% of the salary of the injured player – Ter Stegen in this case – for the new player. With the German earning 9 million euros, the Barcelonans could thus offer a salary of around 7 million euros to a free goalkeeper, which gives a lot of room for maneuver to the management.
However, they are quite rare. Keylor Navas, Jordi Masip, Edgar Badia, Tomas Vaclik or Loris Karius are the main options. The rule of the medical joker allowing to recruit a Liga player even outside the transfer window in the event of injury, used at the time to enlist Martin Braithwaite, no longer exists. In the event that no free goalkeeper is deemed interesting by the management, it would therefore be necessary to wait for the opening of the winter transfer window in January, and, in the meantime, continue to count on Iñaki Peña, the second goalkeeper. Ander Astralaga, goalkeeper of the B team and considered particularly promising, is also an option. A real headache that the Catalan management would have liked not to have to deal with…
