Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen is keen on extending his contract with the defending La Liga champions, according to the German’s agent.
Marc-Andre ter Stegen secured a move from Bundesliga club Borussia Monchengladbach to Barcelona ahead of the 2014-15 season, and even though he was a regular for the Blaugranes in the UEFA Champions League, the player failed to make a single appearance in La Liga for the club in his debut season.
The German keeper did manage to make his league debut in the subsequent season but was again o end of limited amount of playing time domestically as he recorded only 7 La Liga appearances in 2015-16 while again being a regular in the Champions League squad.
This was basically due to the presence of another top class goalkeeper in the form of Claudio Bravo challenging for the number 1 spot which forced the club and manager to regularly swap the two in goal to give both a considerable amount of appearances.
But Ter Stegen was unhappy and reportedly demanded to be made the undisputed first choice both domestically and in European competitions as well while the failure to do the aforementioned would result in the player seeking the same thing elsewhere.
Manchester City were linked with both Ter Stegen and Claudio Bravo and the Blaugranes hierarchy decided to let go off Claudio Bravo.
The player has received what he wanted while Barcelona have secured, hopefully, in Ter Stegen a top class goalkeeper for the long haul. There have been rumours of Barcelona preparing a new contract for the former Gladbach man and the player’s agent has responded positively to the speculation in an interview to local Spanish outlet Diari Ara.
Gerd Von Bruch said, “He wanted to play more and there was interest in him from some big clubs. Barca said that there was no way they would let him go, though, and we accepted that.”
“Now Marc’s in the position which he himself had set as his target, starting in the league and in Europe. [Bartomeu’s comments] were a sign of appreciation and he can see himself renewing his contract with Barca.”
In the above comments, Bruch was referring to Barcelona president Josep Bartomeu’s statement that the club was looking to offer Ter Stegen a new deal. The player’s current deal runs out in 2018 and Barcelona is likely to offer the player an extension soon.
There does not seem much reason for Ter Stegen to reject Barcelona’s new contract offer, if and when the Blaugranes come around to offer him a new deal as it looks like the German custodian is set to be the Blaugranes number 1 for a few more years to come.
