FC Barcelona announced that it has launched disciplinary proceedings against last season’s captain Marc-Andre ter Stegen and also temporarily stripped him of the armband.
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FC Barcelona announced that it has launched disciplinary proceedings against last season’s captain Marc-Andre ter Stegen, and also temporarily stripped him of the armband.
“FC Barcelona informs that, following the disciplinary proceedings opened against the player Marc-Andre Stegen, and until this procedure is definitively resolved, the Club, in agreement with the Sports Management [department] and the technical staff, has decided to temporarily remove him from the captaincy of the football first team,” a statement sent out on Thursday afternoon began.
“During this period, the duties of first captain will be assumed by the current second captain, Ronald Araujo,” it then added.
The turn of events means that a Radio Catalunya report on the matter published Wednesday evening was accurate.
TV3 said that the club had decided to take the armband off Ter Stegen, in response to him refusing to have a medical report sent to Barca.
The German has once again fallen to a back injury which it is believed will keep him out for at least four months. Coincidentally, that is the amount of time that the Catalans need him sidelined for in order to register new signings such as Joan Garcia and Marcus Rashford.
To stay on the right side of Financial Fair Play (FFP) limits, Barca could use up to 80% of Tet Stegen’s salary to get Garcia and Rashford the green light for the upcoming La Liga season, which starts on August 17 for Hansi Flick’s defending champions.
Ter Stegen took the rare step of announcing via social media that his knock will keep him out for three months, and was summoned to the Joan Gamper Training Center on Thursday morning.
Spending around an hour and a half there, Barca then announced its disciplinary measures in the afternoon in Catalonia.
As Barca mentioned, Araujo will be Flick’s captain on the field and the armband could fall to someone like Frenkie de Jong or Pedri if the Uruguayan is benched in favor of Pau Cubarsi and Inigo Martinez on the back line.
FC Barcelona has cleared up the matter before the Joan Gamper Trophy match
For the traditional season opener which will take place against Cesc Fabregas and Sergi Roberto’s Como, Araujo is likely to be the captain and give a speech at some point of the proceedings to FC Barcelona’s fans.