Vice-captain Ronald Araujo will take over captaincy duties on an interim basis
Barcelona have removed Marc-Andre ter Stegen from his role as club captain and launched internal disciplinary action against the goalkeeper.
The 33-year-old is currently out following back surgery and is expected to miss at least three months.
However, tensions have risen after Ter Stegen refused to sign a consent form that would allow Barcelona to use his salary space (not his salary) to register new signings under La Liga’s injury exemption rules.
Barcelona are currently unable to register several key players, including Marcus Rashford and goalkeepers Joan Garcia and Wojciech Szczęsny. This is because the club have reached the salary limit permitted them by La Liga, and to register more players they need to reduce the current wage bill by letting some players go.
Some of this difficulty can be resolved due to La Liga’s injury exemption rule, which allows a club to use half of the salary space of an injured player to register others.
However, Ter Stegen, who has been relegated to the role of third goalkeeper since last season, has refused to grant Barcelona the consent needed to send his medical records to La Liga to implement the rule.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Barcelona confirmed that the German will no longer wear the armband “until the matter is definitively resolved”. Vice-captain Ronald Araujo will take over captaincy duties on an interim basis.
Barcelona want to move Ter Stegen on this window, but the player wants to remain at the club and the three years left on his contract makes it difficult to force him out.
Joan Garcia, signed from Espanyol, is his replacement, while Szczęsny, will act as the back up goalkeeper. Both are yet to be registered, leaving Barcelona in the awkward position of having both their first and second goalies unregistered only a week to the start of the new season.
