The Lisbon injury still hurts, every time someone quotes Bayern’s name. But despite the eight goals conceded on Portuguese soil, Marc-André ter Stegen has been chosen Barça’s best player of the 2019-20 season at the traditional Aldo Rovira Memorial Award meeting. This annual award is given by a jury made up of directors and heads of sports from the Catalan media and chaired by former director Josep Lluís Rovira, father of Aldo Rovira, a member of the club who died in an accident .
Renegotiate salaries or put Barça at risk of bankruptcy
In times of pandemic, the meeting has been telematic for the first time, chaired by the president of Barça, Josep Maria Bartomeu. The award, won six times by Messi, and once by Luis Suárez, Éric Abidal, Gerard Piqué and Javier Mascherano, was premiered in 2010. On this occasion, however, the jury has put on the table the possibility of giving the Barça fan award, a gesture to remember the victims of the covid-19 and the members who cannot go to the stadium. An option finally ruled out that would also have allowed a player to avoid voting after a season as dark at the sporting level as the previous one. Eventually, however, the idea of maintaining the spirit of the award prevailed, with Ter Stegen prevailing over Ansu Fati, the second most voted player. The German goalkeeper, despite not having avoided Bayern’s goals, has been recognized for having avoided more defeats and for his professionalism; as well as for his gestures of complicity with the new home, Barcelona.
At the meeting, Josep Maria Bartomeu explained that after the defeat against Bayern, Ter Stegen was the only player who went to talk to the managers, to apologize for the defeat. Days later, others would do the same, but Ter Stegen preferred to say it that day, aboard a plane full of awkward silences. In addition, the goalkeeper also asked to stop the process of renewing his contract, considering that with the pandemic was not the priority. The German, however, will soon renew his commitments with the club until the 2024-25 season, with a contract that will make him the highest paid goalkeeper in world football.
Ter Stegen, trained at Borussia Mönchengladbach, is currently injured, but is working to be able to play the first game of this season against Real Madrid in 10 days, despite coach Ronald Koeman saying on Friday that they will not take any risks and do not believe that he may be ready for this match. Marc-André ter Stegen underwent surgery last August on the patellar tendon in his right knee. The German goalkeeper had discomfort before but was not operated on to be able to play in the Champions League because it was an injury that allowed him to continue playing with conservative treatment. He is now on the verge of returning to competition.
A consolidated relationship
The meeting of the jury coincided with the days when Bartomeu negotiated with the first team players a salary reduction in order to face the economic crisis of a club that spent too much on salaries and that was in a complicated situation with the arrival of the covid-19. The players, however, consider that they already made an effort during the months of confinement, and now they do not want to lower their salary. Ter Stegen, in fact, will soon start earning more, because with the renewal he will double the salary he had when Andoni Zubizarreta bet on him in 2014. Since then, he has played 235 official matches with the Barça shirt. Within a difficult year, Ter Stegen has received good news, as he has also been a father for the first time. Life always makes its way.
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