MADRID (AP) — Barcelona says Marc-Andre ter Stegen will return as first-team captain after announcing on Friday that the goalkeeper had authorized the club to send his medical report to the Spanish league.
The announcement came as Ter Stegen talked of how “especially difficult" the past few months have been, and he criticized suggestions he was to blame for Barcelona’s inability to register new players, insisting that his back surgery and recovery timeline were fully approved by the club.
The disagreement led to the 33-year-old Ter Stegen being stripped of the club’s captaincy on Thursday. But that changed Friday.
“The club announces that the player Marc-Andre ter Stegen has signed the authorization necessary for the club to send La Liga the medical report relating to his surgery,” Barcelona said in a statement. “The disciplinary case has been closed and the player is captain of the first team once again with immediate effect.”
The club had opened a disciplinary proceeding against the goalkeeper on Tuesday after discrepancies about the recovery time for the lower back surgery that Ter Stegen successfully underwent last week.
Barcelona needed him to sign the injury report so it could be sent to the Spanish league in order to clear some salary-cap space and allow the club to more easily register other players without breaching financial fair play rules.
“These past few months have been especially difficult for me, both physically and personally,” Ter Stegen said in a statement on social media. “Like any player, after suffering an injury, my only priority has always been to return to the field as soon as possible, motivated solely by the desire to help the team and do what I love most: compete.”
He added that “completely unfounded” things were said about him in recent weeks, so he felt it was “necessary to express my version of events with respect, but also with clarity.”
“The decision to undergo surgery was made after consulting with medical professionals and was fully approved by the club," he said. “I publicly announced the estimated recovery period, which was given to me by top medical experts and always in coordination with the club.”
Ter Stegen said ahead of the surgery that the recovery time would be about three months. The club did not give an official timetable for the recovery process, saying only that the operation was “successful" and that “his recovery will determine when he can return.”
“At no point could I have thought that my unfortunate situation — having to undergo another operation — was necessary to register other teammates whom I deeply respect and am looking forward to sharing the locker room with for many seasons,” he said. “Any other interpretation seems to me both unfair and inaccurate.”
The club signed Espanyol goalkeeper Joan García in June. Its other goalkeepers are veteran Wojciech Szczęsny and Iñaki Peña.
“Throughout my career, I have always tried to conduct myself with professionalism, respect, and commitment to the crests I’ve represented,” he said. “I have deep affection for FC Barcelona, this city, and its people, who have supported me over so many years. My commitment to these colors remains absolute.”
Ter Stegen missed nearly all of last season because of a ruptured tendon in his knee, and in 2023 he missed about two months because of another back operation. Peña and the 35-year-old Szczęsny started in place of Ter Stegen last season.
Barcelona, the defending Spanish league champion, arrived back in Spain on Tuesday after completing a preseason tour in Asia. It will face Italian club Como in its final preseason match on Sunday in Barcelona. Its league debut is at Mallorca next Saturday.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Tales Azzoni, The Associated Press
