Barcelona has had a serious setback as goalkeeper and captain Marc-Andre ter Stegen was recorded in a wheelchair after suffering a knee injury over the weekend.
Ter Stegen, 32, was stretchered off during Barcelona’s 5-1 victory over Villarreal, and manager Hansi Flick immediately recognized it was a ‘major injury’, according to DAZN.
The German custodian tore the patellar tendon in his right knee, which joins the kneecap to the shinbone, and was examined at a hospital in Villareal.
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According to Spanish outlet SPORT, Barcelona will be without their first-choice goalkeeper for at least eight months, potentially jeopardizing their promising start.
Barcelona has won all six LaLiga matches so far, with Robert Lewandowski, Lamine Yamal, and Raphinha in particularly lethal form, and they have a four-point lead over Real Madrid.
However, they now risk losing Ter Stegen, a veteran between the posts for a decade, for the remainder of the season.
Barcelona will only be able to provide a more accurate date for his rehabilitation after tests are completed in a Catalan facility.
The league leaders will be allowed to sign a replacement for Ter Stegen if they choose.
If doctors certify that he will be out for more than four months, they will be permitted to sign a free agent as long as that star was without a club on deadline day.
Barcelona will be able to pay him up to 80% of Ter Stegen’s £7.5 million salary.
However, they will not be authorized to recruit a player from another club, like they did with Martin Braithwaite from Leganes in 2020, a move that proved successful in Los Pepineros’ fight for survival that year.
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