FC Barcelona Studies Signing Ter Stegen Replacement - These Are Its Options

FC Barcelona will be allowed to make a signing outside of the transfer window to stand in for its injured captain Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

The German was stretchered off the pitch in tears during Barca's eventual 5-1 away win at Villarreal on Sunday evening, with all signs pointing to him missing the rest of the season thanks to a serious knee injury which is still yet to be confirmed by the club.

Barca has the option of signing a stand-in for its skipper. But because the market isn't open again until January, it has to be one that is currently unemployed and would only take up 80% of Ter Stegen's salary thanks to well documented issues with Financial Fair Play and returning to the 1:1 rule.

Inaki Pena came on for head coach Hansi Flick's number one choice at the Estadio de la Ceramica, yet there should perhaps be concerns that he can lead Barca's title challenge given his stats last season in a trophyless campaign under Xavi Hernandez.

While Ter Stegen conceded 37 goals in 36 games, which was someway off his impressively low tally in 2022/2023 when he won the Zamora Trophy for Spain's best goalkeeper plus La Liga, Pena let in an alarming 32 goals across 17 outings.

Because of this, Barca is said to be studying the goalkeeper market according to SPORT, which cited anonymous sources, and will have the following options to look at.

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Namely they are Keylor Navas, Jordi Masip, Edgar Badia, Jiri Pavlenka and Loris Karius.

In Navas' case, it seems unlikely that Barca would sign someone so closely associated with arch nemesis Real Madrid, while Karius is known to be error prone following his 2018 Champions League final hiccups against Los Blancos.

A similar logic seen with Navas could apply to Badia because of his time at crosstown rivals Espanyol, but Masip might be a good fit as a former La Masia graduate.

Pavlenka is still around the Czech national team set up and relatively young at 32. But a wildcard could be Robert Lewandowski's former teammate Wojciech Szczesny.

The 34-year-old recently announced his retirement after ending his journey at Juventus, but he could be forced to go back on that decision if a similarly elite club such as Barca comes knocking for his services.