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Barcelona might have presented Man City with unexpected transfer opportunity

Had things turned out a little differently, Marc-Andre ter Stegen could already be a Manchester City player. Perhaps even a Manchester City great.

When Pep Guardiola agreed to take over at the Etihad in 2016, one of his first tasks was to overhaul his goalkeeping options. He knew he needed an upgrade on Joe Hart when it came to the ability to play out from the back. The jettisoning of the England goalkeeper was Guardiola's first statement of intent.

City ended up signing Claudio Bravo in the summer of 2016, a misstep at the time but one that was corrected a year later with the addition of Ederson, who has been the team's first choice ever since. But as ter-Stegen explained on a Bild podcast in April, he was the one Guardiola wanted.

At the time, Ter-Stegen had shared goalkeeping duties at the Nou Camp with Bravo, having picked up an injury at the start of the season, and it was expected that one of them would leave Barcelona.

"We had a meeting in 2016; Pep Guardiola flew here, explained his ideas, that he'd be at Manchester City in summer and would like to have me," said Ter Stegen.

“I told myself this could be the solution and the plan at Manchester City sounds very interesting. Looking at the last few years, it’s worked perfectly. I went to Luis Enrique and told him I wanted permission. He replied: ‘I won’t release you under any circumstances!’ He also said he'd tell the club they shouldn’t let me go.

"On one hand I really appreciated it, but I wanted to be number one. He said we should see how pre-season goes, I almost lost my temper... I just said: I’ll go to the board and just wanted to let you know. The board also said they wouldn’t release me. Three weeks later, Pep brought Claudio Bravo to Manchester City."

Ter

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