News comes in late that Barcelona, and Marc-Andre ter Stegen are about to go their separate ways, at least for a season. According to Diario AS, the German custodian will join Eredivisie’s Ajax on loan for the next season. This decision by the Blaugrana comes on the heels of Barca coach, Hansi Flick’s absolute decision regarding the 34 year-old keeper.
Flick declared last summer, unequivocally that Barcelona were going to place their faith in Joan Garcia, which threw the Barcelona captain off schedule, forcing his hand to seek a way out of Catalonia. He joined Girona on a season long loan but failed to meet expectations due to his ongoing injuries.
In comes Ajax, led by newly appointed coach Michel Sanchez, whom Ter Stegen only spent the duration of his brief, injury ridden loan stint at Girona with. Though his stint on loan to Michel Sanchez‘s team proved very brief due to injury, the shared working relationship left enough of a mark with his coach that the latter went to great lengths to sign his player.
Why Barcelona want to let him leave is, as with everything they do, rooted in finance. The Catalan giants need to eliminate ter Stegen’s purported €15m annual wages from their books in order to gain wiggle room under La Liga’s suffocating salary cap, even if only for one year.
In return Ajax get one of the most decorated players with huge CL experience.
Ter Stegen, meanwhile gets a clean slate and guaranteed minutes at another team from outside of the Spanish hotbed. Only the finer points on salary division remain between the two clubs. Keep an eye on this one developing.
Add us as a preferred source on Google