Barcelona have undoubtedly been the unluckiest team in Europe when it comes to injuries in the early weeks of the 2024/25 season.
A whopping seven first-team players – including Gavi, Ronald Araujo and Dani Olmo – were all ruled out heading into the game against Villarreal on Sunday, and during the eventual 5-1 win another name was added to the injured list.
And it was a pretty important one at that.
Club captain and starting goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen was stretched off on the stroke of half-time with what has now been confirmed to be a season-ending knee injury.
Here’s four potential replacements that Barcelona could sign to fill in in-between the sticks for the remainder of the 2024/25 season.
1. Keylor Navas
Is Keylor Navas the most under-appreciated goalkeeper of his generation?
Yes, absolutely.
The Costa Rica international has been consistently brilliant everywhere he’s been, and yet been consistently replaced by the clubs he’s played for.
First it was by Thibaut Courtois at Real Madrid.
And then, it was by Gianluigi Donnarumma at Paris Saint-Germain.
Navas is now a free agent having left PSG upon the expiration of his contract in the summer, and would be a cheap and rather brilliant replacement for the stricken Ter Stegen.
Yes, he did retire from football at the end of August, but having wrote “my body still feels ready for challenges” in the social post regarding his retirement, there’s still life in the old dog yet.
And although we say ‘old dog’, in goalkeeper years, at 34, Wojciech Szczesny isn’t actually that old.
The goalkeeper didn’t show any signs of regression in the last few years either, regularly putting in top class performances for Juventus and Poland.
SPORT are reporting that Szczesny would consider coming out of retirement to become Barca’s first-choice goalkeeper. He’s certainly good enough to do the job.
3. Guillaume Restes
From two veteran options, to a much, much younger one.
19-year-old Guillaume Restes is reportedly ‘under consideration’ as a replacement for Ter Stegen during the January transfer window.
The youngster is the current first-choice goalkeeper at Ligue 1 side Toulouse, and also at Under-21 level for France – earning five caps thus far.
A report from SPORT claims that Barcelona would be willing to pay a €15m fee, plus €5m add-ons, to lure Restes to Catalunya during the January transfer window.
He’d be a shrewd investment as he has the potential to replace Ter Stegen both in the short and long-term.
4. Alvaro Valles
Another goalkeeper that SPORT have cited Barca as having an interest in, Alvaro Valles could be viewed as a ‘market opportunity’ option for La Blaugrana.
Thanks to a contract dispute, the talented 27-year-old has been frozen out of Las Palmas’ first team.
As a result, Las Palmas find themselves rooted to the bottom of La Liga. Which isn’t ideal.
The contract stand-off could mean that Barca would be able to snap up the goalkeeper for a cut-price fee.
