It seems he'll be our GK next season thought I'd open a thread on him here. He cost us €9-12 million (£7.5-9.9m) plus two friendly games.

Marc-André ter Stegen was born on 30 April 1992 in Mönchengladbach, Germany. He currently plays as a goalkeeper for Borussia M’gladbach.

At the age of 4, Marc-André entered the local Borussia youth system, where he stayed till the year 2010.

2010–11 season
In the first half of the 2010–11 Season, ter Stegen established himself as the star of Borussia Mönchengladbach's reserve team and was frequently seen on the first-team bench. Whilst he was enjoying a relatively successful season, the same could not be said for his first-team colleagues. Mönchengladbach's senior side were seemingly failing in their efforts to avoid relegation, and on 14 February 2011, then-manager Michael Frontzeck was replaced by Lucien Favre, with the team rooted to the bottom of the Bundesliga, having accumulated only 16 points after 22 match days. Results soon improved, but the erratic form of first-choice goalkeeper Logan Bailly held the team back. Whilst he was able to produce match-winning performances such as the one against Werder Bremen, these were few and far between, and were frequently cancelled out by uninspiring games. The fans of Die Fohlen were quick to discredit the Belgian international, with some accusing him of putting more effort into his modelling career than his football. Ter Stegen's progress for the reserve team had not gone unnoticed by the supporters, and the new manager was inundated with demands to start the young prodigy in the league. Favre eventually lost patience with Bailly, and on 10 April 2011, relegated him to the bench in favour of Ter Stegen for the match against 1. FC Köln. The young German did not disappoint, and the defence boasted a previously unseen solidity. He kept his place in the team for the remainder of the season, keeping four clean-sheets out of a possible five in the last five matchdays as Mönchengladbach avoided relegation via the playoffs. During this run, he shot to prominence with a last-man-standing display against eventual champions Borussia Dortmund, making a string of world-class saves as Die Fohlen secured a famous 1–0 victory.

2011–12 season
Ter Stegen's status as first-choice goalkeeper was cemented when Bailly was sent on loan to Swiss side Neuchâtel Xamax and the no.1 shirt delegated to ter Stegen, who had previously worn 21.

During the summer transfer window, Bayern Munich had succeeded in their drawn-out pursuit of Schalke 04's captain Manuel Neuer. The German international made his debut against ter Stegen's Mönchengladbach at the Allianz Arena. The game did not go the way the pundits predicted, however, with ter Stegen producing yet another inspired display whilst his counterpart Neuer made the error that condemned Bayern to a 1–0 defeat. Following this game, Borussia Mönchengladbach embarked on an unlikely title challenge, with ter Stegen and fellow youngster Marco Reus providing the inspiration for Die Fohlen.

Already much better than Valdes. Welcome.

Fußball wrote:Already much better than Valdes. Welcome.

That was funny.

Anyway, I hope he turns out to be a worthwhile transfer.

bazinga wrote:

Fußball wrote:Already much better than Valdes. Welcome.

That was funny.

Anyway, I hope he turns out to be a worthwhile transfer.

Do not pay any attention to Futbol. He is the knee-jerk master of this forum. Until December Tata was a "proper coach", Tito "the worst coach we ever had" and Valdes was superman. Now Tata is Rijkaard II and Valdes is a clown.

I'm happy with the signing, but Ter Stegen is not on Valdes level at all right now, and also far from Neuer.

It's not knee-jerking. It's adjusting opinions according to changing circumstances in the fast paced futbol world.

MAtS is already a much better passer / distributor than Valdes and he is actually capable of catching aerial balls instead of charging out like crazy and flying off completely under the ball. Don't think he is any worse at shot stopping either (what Valdes showed at the beginning of this season wasn't his normal level anyway, that was a few weeks of overperforming - he's back to his true level right now). Only stumbling block at the beginning could be the nerves in a new environment like Barca, especially for a 21 year old which is a baby age for a goalkeeper.

The hype Valdes is getting right now is hilarious just because he's leaving Barca for an oil club because he gambled money away in his private life with shady business. I'm sure he'll enjoy "new cultures" playing infront of 250 Monaco fans.  

Well, for starters Ter Stegen own scored two goals with his "distribution" skills that in your opinion are better than Valdes's.

Secondly, Valdes is incredibly good at catching the balls, not just at saving, an ability MATS is not close at all. Same for one on ones, although MATS might be good he has far less one on ones to show than Valdes.

I agree that MATS is better in cross catching from what I've seen.

Finally, his shot stopping abilities are good but not that extraordinary. On par with Valdes at most IMO.

How can you hold those 2 own goals against him? In a similar time frame Valdes has produced the Benzema brainfart and the Di Maria brainfart. And Valdes isn't 21. He's 32. Also ter Stegen's distribution can't be compared to Valdes' distribution. MAtS is averaging 38 passes per game. He's like an outfield player. He averages more passes than Pedro and Sanchez and as many as Neymar. Valdes is only averaging 15 passes per game. MAtS passes almost 3 times as much. It's not an opinion, it's a fact that ter Stegen's distribution is on another level. A wobbling backpass doesn't change that. Valdes' distribution has always been overrated because of Barca's overall style. You can clearly see that even Pinto passes it better and hoofs it less.

Valdes has never, ever, scored two own goals so terrible as those of MATS. In his whole career. MATS has two in one year time.

That Di Maria brain fart still pisses me off. Practically lost us the cup. Valdes is great at passing but every once in a while has a completley horrible mistake...but then again so do all keepers. It's normal.

That said I love Valdes and wish he would of changed his mind. He has given his life to us though and wish him the best in his future endevours.

I welcome young MATS and hope he can offer us many years of valuable service.

He will be taking on Dortmund tomorrow if anyone is interested in seeing him in action.

Winter is Coming wrote:He will be taking on Dortmund tomorrow if anyone is interested in seeing him in action.

He's a scary prospect. Always ups his game against Dortmund and Bayern as well.

Indeed he seems like he's a big game player and still learning. I think he was a great grab especially considering we pretty much paid peanuts for him.

My only problem with him is that he is really short.Shorter than Valdes.With our trouble on corners and set pieces it would have helped if we had someone tall and really commanding in the air.
Someone like Neur.

Where did you hear he was short?

Stegen - 189 cm
Valdes - 183 cm
Iker - 185 cm
Neuer - 192 cm

I reckon he will grow a little bit more as he is still only 21, and (most) males do not stop growing until mid 20s

Donuts wrote:Where did you hear he was short?

Stegen - 189 cm
Valdes - 183 cm
Iker - 185 cm
Neuer - 192 cm

I reckon he will grow a little bit more as he is still only 21, and (most) males do not stop growing until mid 20s

Wow.Is he really that tall?I was going by watching him play.He looks short on TV.Even yesterday he looked like the shortest player on the pitch.Appearances can be deceiving.If he is 189 then thats really good.

Maybe he looks short on TV because he is a bit stocky.

That should be correct. He's about as tall as Dante who is a tall centerback.



Dante is making himself a bit bigger in this picture as well, see his left foot not on the ground. And he's rocking the afro. No chance he's smaller than Valdes.

Claiming crosses shouldn't be a problem:



See crosses claimed.

Donuts wrote:Where did you hear he was short?

Stegen - 189 cm
Valdes - 183 cm
Iker - 185 cm
Neuer - 192 cm

I reckon he will grow a little bit more as he is still only 21, and (most) males do not stop growing until mid 20s

Iker is never 185. he's not even 6'0.

Ter Stegen is 188 for sure, if not 189. Very tall guy.

Valkyrja wrote:

Donuts wrote:Where did you hear he was short?

Stegen - 189 cm
Valdes - 183 cm
Iker - 185 cm
Neuer - 192 cm

I reckon he will grow a little bit more as he is still only 21, and (most) males do not stop growing until mid 20s

Iker is  never 185. he's not even 6'0.

Ter Stegen is 188 for sure, if not 189. Very tall guy.

a simple google search shows your wrong.
https://www.google.com/search?q=iker+casillas+height&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=sb

Donuts wrote:

Valkyrja wrote:

Donuts wrote:Where did you hear he was short?

Stegen - 189 cm
Valdes - 183 cm
Iker - 185 cm
Neuer - 192 cm

I reckon he will grow a little bit more as he is still only 21, and (most) males do not stop growing until mid 20s

Iker is  never 185. he's not even 6'0.

Ter Stegen is 188 for sure, if not 189. Very tall guy.

a simple google search shows your wrong.
https://www.google.com/search?q=iker+casillas+height&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=sb

Look at this. Ronaldo is 185-86, clearly. LINK LINK2

pictures can be deceiving i would take a medical form stat over a picture which doesn't even show what shoes / platform the player is standing in and you have to take into account posture...
and based on that picture Beckham is 6 feet tall.. and looks easily 1-2 inches shorter then Iker.

The second link shows clearly that Iker isn't 185. A picture can't be THAT deceiving. Iker is 180-182.

ikers not 6ft. and beckham was never 6ft either.. hes always been a 179-180cm guy. benzema doesn't even have lifts and he's still the same height as iker. benz is 183cm

Giggity5313 wrote:ikers not 6ft. and beckham was never 6ft either.. hes always been a 179-180cm guy. benzema doesn't even have lifts and he's still the same height as iker. benz is 183cm

Benzema 182, Iker 181 IMO. Celebrities height are very deceiving. They never claim the truth and are always pumped on internet. Modric is 174 on wiki ffs, while he's 170 max