Who will be Barcelona captain at the start of the 2025/26 season remains unclear as the Marc-Andre ter Stegen saga rolls on.
The Germany international will miss the beginning of the new campaign after the club confirmed back surgery for their current No.1.
However, that only tells part of the Ter Stegen story, amid a swirling row over his future in Catalonia in the months ahead.
Ter Stegen is unhappy with Barcelona’s attempts to offload him following the decision to sign Joan Garcia, with Hansi Flick already informing him he will be third choice this season.
After taking the bold step of announcing he would be out of action for three months post-surgery, that was viewed as a deliberate attempt to stop Barcelona activating the emergency injury rule and using some of his salary limit space to register Garcia.
That stand-off has led to rumours of Ter Stegen being permanently removed as captain with Flick now involved in the decision over who takes the armband.
Barca stars back Ter Stegen as captain
Following Barcelona’s 7-3 preseason win over FC Seoul, Frenkie de Jong offered his backing to Ter Stegen, with the Dutch star one of the candidates to replace him.
“For me, Marc is team captain, just as he was last season. Marc is a world-class player and has always given his all for the club, so I support Marc a lot, and from what I know, the team as well.”
Ronald Araujo started as captain in Seoul, with Gavi taking over at half time, and Ferran Torres on duty for the final ten minutes.
Torres admitted the squad are not aware over whether a vote on the captaincy will take place but hinted he could be interested in joining the captains group.
“If just putting on this shirt is important for a player, imagine what it means to have the captaincy. It motivates me to keep working and hopefully there will be many more opportunities to wear the armband,” as per Mundo Deportivo.
Barcelona will wrap up their tour against Daegu FC on August 4, before heading back to Catalonia for the Joan Gamper Trophy vs. Como on August 10.
