Contract negotiations between Barcelona and star player reach impasse

Barcelona hit a speed bump in their efforts to tie their goalkeeper to a long-term contract.

Barcelona have not had a good season by their standards. Several of their flaws have been exposed both in La Liga and the Champions League. In a handful of their wins, the other side should have at least gotten a point out of the game.

If it weren’t for Lionel Messi either creating or scoring the goals, Barcelona wouldn’t be where they are right now. But he’s not the only one keeping the team afloat.

Goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen is, behind Messi, the Catalans most important player. The German has made countless miraculous saves to keep the team in a number of games. If it weren’t for him and Messi, they wouldn’t be two points up on Real Madrid in the first place.

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Barcelona knows how important Ter Stegen is to them which is why they were in the process of trying to get him to sign a long-term deal. Unfortunately, it’s not gone as well as the club would have hoped.

According to Diario Sport, talks between the two sides have broken down and it does not appear an agreement will be reached any time soon.

The report claims that Barcelona offered Ter Stegen a new contract ending in 2024 that would have earned him €6.5 million a season plus bonuses. The keeper baulked at the offer citing the fact that other players with less protagonism have received better offers.

Despite Sport also claiming that Bayern Munich has reached out to Ter Stegen after talks were put on hold, both he and Barcelona want to come to an agreement and see him stay with the club.

One of the reasons Barcelona cannot offer him more at the moment is because of the current wage-structure of the club. They have one of the highest wage bills in world football and need to find a way to trim that down.

Some of their solutions will be to move on from high-wage earners like Arturo Vidal and Ivan Rakitic.

Ter Stegen has been a mainstay since arriving back in the 2014-15 season under Luis Enrique. He was one of Andoni Zubizarreta’s last signings bringing him over from Borussia Mönchengladbach for €12 million.

After splitting time his first two seasons with Claudio Bravo, the club decided to bet on Ter Stegen and he delivered. As mentioned before, he’s been integral to Barcelona and has become one of the best goalkeepers in the world.

He’s also embedded himself well ever since he arrived. He learned Spanish very quickly, is happy in Barcelona and ticks all the boxes that they want out of their goalkeeper.

When things get back to normal, or something resembling it, coming to an agreement should be one of the first things on the list. At 27-years-old, Ter Stegen has many more years left to offer and it would a shame for Barcelona if he were to do it on another team.