Barcelona initiate disciplinary proceedings against captain Ter Stegen

Barcelona Football Club has initiated disciplinary proceedings against captain Marc-Andre ter Stegen, amid numerous speculations about his future and his role as team leader, Spanish media reported today.

The 33-year-old German goalkeeper recently said he is on good terms with the club's management, but Barcelona still initiated proceedings after he failed to sign permission for a report on his injury to be sent to the Spanish Primera League's Medical Committee, Mundo Deportivo reported.

Following Ter Stegen's back surgery, Barcelona wanted to use the emergency injury rule to register goalkeeper Joan Garcia, but needed the captain's signature to give consent to sharing the information.

Barcelona have not yet registered new players Marcus Rashford, Rooney Barca and Joan Garcia, but with Ter Stegen set to be out for four to five months due to injury, they could activate La Liga's injured player rule.

If a player is out for four months, clubs can use 50 percent of their salary cap space in the current transfer window to register a replacement, while that amount increases to 80 percent if the absence is expected to last longer than five months.

In this case, since it's a goalkeeper, Barcelona could use that salary cap space and sign either Garcia or Wojciech Szczesny.

The Catalan club has asked its legal team to immediately initiate disciplinary proceedings against Ter Stegen and determine whether he can be punished for his decision, considering it detrimental to the club in economic and sporting terms.

Mundo Deportivo stated that Barcelona are aware that Ter Stegen has the right to refuse to sign, but that they also believe that the German goalkeeper has a number of obligations and responsibilities by signing a contract with the club.

Sporting director Deco planned to discuss the matter with Ter Stegen upon his return from South Korea, but after informing him of his desire to speak, the captain made it clear that he had no intention of signing his medical report, which would be sent to Primera.