Barcelona appear to be delighted to have received the green light for a move for goalkeeper Joan Garcia, who has a €25m release clause at rivals Espanyol. That appeared to be the most difficult part of setting themselves up with a new number one, but the situation of Marc-Andre ter Stegen is unlikely to make things easy.
Garcia has agreed to a five-year contract with Barcelona, and they intend to activate his release clause next week. They managed to beat out numerous Premier League sides and several Italian giants to sign Garcia, but one of the assurances that they had to give him in order to get a deal done was that he would be the number one goalkeeper.
Formal steps are yet to be done, but there’s an agreement in place for Szczęsny to extend his deal until 2027. @FabrizioRomano
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) June 5, 2025
Marc-Andre ter Stegen maintains position
It leaves them with a tricky scenario regarding Marc-Andre ter Stegen, who just weeks ago was set to return as number one next season and captain the club, following a serious knee problem this season. Ter Stegen is one of the highest earners at the club, and has three years remaining on his contract. With Barcelona intending to renew Wojciech Szczesny too, they are set to speak with ter Stegen about the situation. The 33-year-old has assured on two separate occasions, before the Garcia deal was done and after, that he will be at Barcelona next season.
Handling of situation may go against Barcelona
Ter Stegen mentioned in both interviews that nobody from Barcelona had spoken to him, and Sport say that he is angry with how it has been handled. As such, he is unlikely to facilitate any exit to make things easier for Barcelona. Given it seems unlikely that many other sides will be willing to invest so much in his wages, this could be a particularly thorny problem if Barcelona do want to move ter Stegen on.
