Barcelona loan Ter Stegen to Ajax until the end of the 2026/27 season

The agreement is valid for one season, but the clubs did not say whether there is a purchase option at the end of the contract. Ter Stegen still has a contract with Barcelona until 2028.

In a statement, the Spanish club wished the player luck in the new stage of his career. Ajax's sporting director, Jordi Cruyff, stated that the Dutch team now has a “world class” goalkeeper, capable of immediately strengthening the squad.

Hired by Barcelona in 2014, after leaving Borussia Mönchengladbach, Ter Stegen played 423 matches for the Catalan club. During this period, he won a Champions League, in 2015, and six Spanish Championship titles.

Team captain at the beginning of last season, the German lost space and did not take the field for Barça in the championship. Between January and June, he was loaned to Girona, but played little because of a thigh injury.

The goalkeeper had already faced a long period away after suffering, in September 2024, a complete rupture of the patellar tendon in his right knee. Recovery took about eight months.

Currently, the starting line-up at Barcelona belongs to Joan Garcia, signed from Espanyol in the summer of 2025. Polish Wojciech Szczesny is a reserve player.

In the German team, Ter Stegen also lost space. After assuming the starting role after the 2024 Euro Cup, he was left off the list for the 2026 World Cup, a competition that marked Manuel Neuer's return to the national team.

Internal email exposes crisis at FIFA and increases pressure on Infantino

Message sent by the entity's secretary general to employees addresses the abandonment of FIFA Forward Enterprise and mentions an unstable political environment, while Gianni Infantino faces loss of support before the 2027 election