Barcelona looking to bring in new goalkeeper to heighten the competition

Barcelona has been changing its team drastically over the past couple of years and Joan Laporta, the team’s president, has decided that he wants to bring in new players in the summer as well. After bringing in three new forwards in the winter and changing the look of the team’s attack completely, the manager is now targeting the defense. Xavi Hernandez is ready to take the club back to its former glory however, he needs new reinforcements for that Laporta is ready to oblige. There has been a lot of talks about bringing in new defenders however, one position which has not been mentioned is the goalkeeping position.

Marc-Andre ter Stegen has been the main goalkeeper of the team for a long time now and he was named as one of the untouchable players in Barca. However, his performance has been declining recently and this season he has kept only nine clean sheets in all competitions while conceding 44 goals. In comparison, Thibaut Courtois has kept 16 clean sheets in all competitions while conceding only 28 goals. Even Jan Oblak, who is facing one of his worst seasons, has kept more clean sheets than Ter Stegen.

Barcelona shortlist possible goalkeepers

The German’s drop in form could be due to the inconsistent defense in front of him or it could be complacency. The goalkeeper does not really have any competition around him and he knows that he is the team’s number one choice no matter what. Thus, Laporta has decided to bring in a new goalkeeper in order to challenge Ter Stegen to do better. Luis Maximiano of Granada, Illan Meslier from Leeds United, and Yassine Bounou from Sevilla are the potential targets as of now. There are some other names as well and it still remains to be seen if the club will call back Inaki Pena or not. Whatever the case might be, the message is very clear, Ter Stegen needs to step up or step down.

Who should Barcelona sign?