Ter Stegen not Barca's guaranteed first choice after Garcia arrival, says Deco

Barcelona sporting director Deco said he doesn't need to speak with Marc-Andre ter Stegen about his future at the club after completing the signing of Joan Garcia. 

Garcia became Barca's first arrival of the summer transfer window, joining from city rivals Espanyol for a reported €25 million transfer fee, penning a six-year deal. 

The Spaniard impressed in LaLiga last season, making the most saves (146) in the division, while also keeping eight clean sheets in his 38 outings for Espanyol. 

Garcia's arrival has thrown Ter Stegen's future with Barca into question, with Hansi Flick now having four different goalkeepers to choose from ahead of the 2025-26 campaign. 

Ter Stegen ruptured his patellar tendon in September last year, ruling him out for the rest of the season, with Wojciech Szczesny coming out of retirement to replace him. 

Inaki Pena, who played 23 times across all competitions in 2024-25, is also another option, with reports suggesting that Ter Stegen will be Barca's third-choice keeper next year. 

"I don't have to talk to him. My obligation is to make the best team possible for the coach. This isn't my responsibility," Deco told La Vanguardia. 

"There's no contract that says you're going to play no matter what. From here on, it's the coach who makes the decisions, and each player has his own ambitions.

"We've made the decision to sign a young goalkeeper. It means he can play tomorrow, be on the bench, or play in a year or two. 

"We have certain expectations for Joan that must then be met. Everyone starts from scratch. It's the manager who will have to decide."

Deco gave an example of the goalkeeper situation at Liverpool, when discussing the future of Barca's options in Ter Stegen and Szczesny, and the implication of Garcia joining. 

The Premier League champions have Alisson Becker and Giorgi Mamardashvili as their top two choices, having allowed Caoimhin Kelleher to join Brentford on a permanent deal earlier this month. 

"Last year and the year before, Ter Stegen was injured, and we only had Inaki Pena. We have good goalkeepers from the youth academy, but they're very young," Deco added. 

"We turned to Szczesny, who has performed spectacularly. Look at Liverpool. They have Alisson, 32, and they signed one of the best in La Liga, Mamardashvili, who's 24.

"When opportunities like this come along, you can't waste them, because otherwise he'll go somewhere else."

Deco also expects Szczesny to extend his stay with Blaugrana after a string of impressive displays, most notably in their run to the Champions League semi-finals. 

"He'll definitely renew," Deco said of Szczesny. "We'll have to make a decision with Inaki Pena because we'll have four goalkeepers on the first team."