On Friday, during his pre-match press conference, Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez confirmed that Marc-Andre ter Stegen had been named the fourth captain of the team.
A captaincy slot had become vacant following the retirement of Gerard Pique last month. The veteran defender elected as one of the four captains at the start of the season along with Sergio Busquets, Sergi Roberto and Jordi Alba.
But with Pique deciding to call time on his career, a vacancy had been created. Ter Stegen had been tipped to take over the position, but reports had suggested that Barça might hold off on appointing a fourth captain until the pre-season in June.
However, Xavi confirmed that ter Stegen had been made the fourth captain.
And, now, according to Mundo Deportivo, the German international’s captaincy nomination was not decided by a vote but instead his appointment was the call of Barcelona manager Xavi and the coaching staff.
Usually, Barça captains are elected by a process when the entire squad takes a vote and the four skippers are named based on it.
But, Xavi & co. decided not to go for a voting process midway through the season as they did not wish to disrupt the harmony within the squad by changing the established captaincy hierarchy at the club for this season.
Hence, Barcelona decided to continue with Busquets, Roberto and Alba as the first, second and third club captains, respectively, while naming ter Stegen the fourth skipper, replacing Pique.
“The fourth captain has been chosen as of this week. It will be Ter Stegen because of his seniority and experience,” Xavi said in his press conference.
With both Busquets and Roberto seeing their contracts expire at the end of the season, a vote will be taken in the summer to name new captains once the futures of the aforementioned duo is clear.
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