Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen suffered a torn right patellar tendon in his right knee a couple of weeks ago during a 5-1 win over Villarreal, necessitating young backup Inaki Pena to step into the starting role.
Since Pena has no consistent top-level experience as a starter, Barcelona immediately called up former Juventus and Roma starting goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny to coax a man who was recently Serie A‘s best keeper out of retirement.
Szczesny is now the unquestioned No. 1 in Barcelona, but since he was just retired, the Polish international is nothing more than a stopgap option for Hansi Flick and Co.
Barcelona have been busy monitoring the upcoming January and June transfer windows for possible long-term replacements for ter Stegen, whose long-term future in Catalunya is entirely up in the air after this serious injury.
According to a report from Mundo Deportivo, Barcelona currently have goalkeeper targets on their shortlist in Diogo Costa of Porto, Brighton standout Bart Verbruggen, Espanyol sensation Joan Garcia (also watched by Arsenal), La Liga star Alvaro Valles of Las Palmas, and German prospect Mio Backhaus.
All five are smart options for Barcelona to watch with differing positives, and this list shows how strong the talent identification can be under Flick, who also deserves to be praised for proactively bringing in a proven option in Szczesny.
Garcia is the most intriguing option as a 23-year-old who is already boasting a 78.6 save percentage in La Liga this season after dominating La Liga 2 last season. He may not be economical, though, as even Arsenal balked at his asking price of a 30-35 million euro release clause.
Valles is an impending free agent and already one of La Liga’s best, so he could be a very affordable option. Backhaus is another prospect worth watching at 20, but he isn’t ready to start for Barcelona yet.
Verbruggen is in his second season as a starter for Brighton, but with a save percentage of 65 to start the 2024/25 Premier League campaign, he isn’t as strong of an option as Valles, Garcia, or Costa.
And Costa would be the best option but the costliest, as Porto and the whole world know that the big Portuguese goalkeeper is one of the most in-demand young shot-stoppers after making a name for himself on the international stage with his penalty saving.
Barcelona can’t go wrong with these options, though in terms of a potential long-term upgrade for ter Stegen, Costa and Garcia may be the only ones that truly fit the bill for the Blaugrana.
The managing editor of The Trivela Effect, Kevin has 15 years of experience in digital media. He covered Real Madrid from 2019-2022 for The Real Champs as a site manager. His work has been featured in ESPN, Bleacher Report, Yahoo! Sports, NBC Sports, and other major outlets. You can contact him at the site’s official Twitter handle @TrivelaEffect or via the site’s official email thetrivelaeffect@gmail.com.