Germany manager Julian Nagelsmann has made it clear that Marc-Andre ter Stegen needs to be playing regular football if he wants to be his team’s goalkeeper at the 2026 World Cup.
Ter Stegen has lost his
No. 1 spot at Barcelona to Joan Garcia and has spent the first chunk of the season out injured after undergoing knee surgery.
He is closing in on a return to full fitness but has been warned he needs to play in the second half of the season by his international manager.
“We had a slightly longer phone call last week. He’s doing well. That’s the important information for now,” he told reporters.
“I’m not stipulating that he has to play for a top club, because that’s always a bit of a matter of interpretation. Whether it’s an absolute top European club or not isn’t the be-all and end-all. Of course, it would be good for him to play, and to play well, but the first thing is that he plays. I think there’s no news yet; the situation isn’t simple.”
Ter Stegen has previously been tipped to try and fight for his place at Barcelona, but Nagelsmann thinks he will be able to find a new club.
“We have to see how healthy he is, how fit he is. He’s back in training now. We also have to look at it from a club’s point of view. It’s clear that there must be some club that, obviously, isn’t very happy with their goalkeeper in the winter transfer window,” he added.
“Otherwise, you don’t usually sign a top-quality goalkeeper, and the situation isn’t easy, but I’m confident that some club will make a move, because Marc is a very good goalkeeper, and now he’s healthy again. We’ll see; I can’t influence that.
“We’re all happy he’s healthy, and we hope he becomes the starting goalkeeper for a club, and then we’ll proceed with the plan as we had envisioned. If that doesn’t happen, we’ll have to continue reflecting on the much-discussed goalkeeper situation.”
