Barcelona have been dealt a cruel hand after goalkeeper and captain Marc-Andre ter Stegen was filmed in a wheelchair after his knee injury at the weekend.
Ter Stegen, 32, was stretchered off during Barca’s 5-1 rout of Villarreal and manager Hansi Flick immediately knew it was a ‘huge injury’, as he told DAZN.
The German custodian has torn the patellar tendon – which connects the kneecap to the shinebone – in his right knee and was tested at hospital in Villarreal.
Spanish outlet SPORT has reported that Barca will be without their first-choice goalkeeper for at least eight months, threatening to derail their idyllic start.
Barca have won all six of their LaLiga matches so far, with Robert Lewandowski, Lamine Yamal, and Raphinha in particularly lethal form, and they have established a four-point gap over Real Madrid.
Barcelona are set to be without Marc-Andre ter Stegen for eight months after he was pictured in a wheelchair due to a knee injury
The goalkeeper suffered the blow during Barcelona’s 5-1 rout of Villarreal on Sunday
Ter Stegen was stretchered off and manager Hansi Flick immediately knew it was a huge injury
However, they are now facing the possibility of not having Ter Stegen, a stalwart between the sticks for a decade, for the rest of the season.
Barcelona will only be able to surmise a more precise timeline for his recovery after tests have been carried out in a Catalan hospital.
The league leaders will be able to sign a replacement for Ter Stegen if they wish.
Provided doctors confirm that he will be out for more than four months, they will be allowed to sign a free agent, so long as that star was without a club before deadline day.
Barca will be allowed to pay him up to 80 per cent of Ter Stegen’s £7.5millon salary.
However, they will not be permitted to sign a player from another club, as they did in the case of Martin Braithwaite from Leganes in 2020 – a move which proved eadly in Los Pepineros’ hunt for survival that year.
The Spanish Football Federation gained permission from FIFA and the Spanish government’s National Sports Council to abolish the rule in the wake of the controversial move.
Former Madrid star Keylor Navas is one high-profile goalkeeper who is clubless and fit but he is 37. Ter Stegen’s fellow countryman Loris Karius is also available.
Barcelona have won all of their LaLiga games this season but have a growing injury crisis
Ter Stegen, who has been their goalkeeper for a decade, could miss the rest of the campaign
Flick is dealing with a burgeoning injury crisis in Catalonia as Gavi, Frenkie de Jong, Dani Olmo, Ronald Araujo, Fermin Lopez, Marc Bernal, and Andreas Christensen, are all sidelined, the latter two likely until early next year.
In goal Flick can call on 25-year-old academy graduate Inaki Pena, who stepped in for Ter Stegen at the weekend, but the injury present a huge blow to Barcelona.
