French champions Paris-Saint-Germain are set to battle Juventus and Bayern Munich for the signature of Barcelona’s highly-rated goalkeeper Marc-André Ter Stegen.
The 27-year-old arrived at the Nou Camp in 2014 in a £10m move from Borussia Mönchengladbach and has gone to be one of the best shot-stoppers in La Liga and in the world in general. Over the last five years, the German international has been key to Barcelona winning trophies and success recorded the club. Ter Stegen still has two and a half years left on his contract and has been in superb form for Ernesto Valverde’s side this season.
According to Mundo Deportivo, the three clubs have targeted the German international either as a long-term replacement or a quick fix to their goalkeeping problem. As for PSG, they aren’t quite as desperate for a new goalkeeper, but that hasn’t stopped their apparent interest in Ter Stegen.
The French champions allowed Alphonse Areola to join Real Madrid on loan during the summer transfer window and signed Keylor Navas from the Spanish side. Thomas Tuchel’s side also signed Chelsea youngster Marci Bulka as a back up to Navas.
For Italian champions Juventus, Mundo Deportivo claims that either Paulo Dybala or Adrien Rabiot, both former targets for Barcelona, could be used to sweeten a deal for Ter Stegen. Current first-team goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny only has 18 months left on his contract in Turin, while veteran Gianluigi Buffon will leave at the end of the season after rejoining the SerieA champions from PSG.
Ter Stegen was linked with Bayern Munich before his move to Barcelona in 2014, but the club ultimately decided against signing the German as he would have spent a number of years as Manuel Neuer’s understudy.
As far as their apparent interest this time around is concerned, Neuer is still one of the top goalkeepers in European football and is rated very highly by the club. Although Ter Stegen’s €100m asking price would make a deal almost impossible for Bayern Munich.
