Barcelona star Marc Andre Ter-Stegen has detailed how Pep Guardiola went to impressive levels of effort to try and sign him for Manchester City.
SportBILD have an interview with goalkeeper given to the “Phrasenmäher” football podcast in which he details how Guardiola nearly got him to the Etihad.
Ter Stegen has been with Barcelona for nearly 11 years, after joining them in a €12m deal from Borussia Monchengladbach in 2014.
He’s the undisputed number one at the club and has earned that title over the years, with a record of 175 clean sheets and 412 goals conceded in 420 games for the club.
It was not all plain sailing for him at the Camp Nou, though, as he initially struggled to get into the first team following his arrival, with Claudio Bravo the number one at the time.
That led to him considering a departure at one point and Guardiola was keen to take him to Manchester City ahead of his arrival at the Etihad in 2016.
He’d made a new goalkeeper a priority signing that summer and Ter Stegen was the man he wanted, but Barcelona refused to do a deal and instead sold Bravo to Manchester City later that summer.
Ter Stegen has now revealed what went down and the lengths Guardiola went to in order to try and make the deal happen for Manchester City.
“It was actually the case that we considered changing clubs,” he said. I
“it was a moment when I wasn’t satisfied with the situation at Barça, because even though we had won many titles, I hadn’t played in the league, 25 or 28 games per season in the cup competitions were no longer enough for me. I wanted to be the clear number one
“We even had a meeting in Barcelona. Pep flew here, and then we met at a friend’s apartment. He explained his ideas to me and that he would be at Manchester City starting in the summer and would like to have me. Pep really tried hard.
“Then I thought about it and told myself that this could be the solution to my problem and that the plan they have at City sounds very interesting. Looking at the last few years, it’s worked out perfectly.
“At some point I went to Luis Enrique and told him I wanted his permission. And he replied: ‘I won’t release you under any circumstances!’ He also said he would tell the club they shouldn’t let me go under any circumstances.
“I replied that on the one hand I really appreciated it, but on the other hand I wanted to be number one. When he then said we should see how the pre-season goes, I almost lost my temper, but I managed to control myself.
“I just said: Listen, that’s my wish now, and I’ll go to the board and just wanted to let you know. The board also said they wouldn’t release me under any circumstances. Three weeks later, Pep brought my teammate Claudio Bravo to Man City. It was strange at first, but in the end I’m very, very happy.”
