Barcelona goalkeeper Ter Stegen reveals his injury and causes controversy, experts question the recovery period and operation timing

Spanish media "Marca" reported that Barcelona goalkeeper Ter Stegen recently announced through personal social media that his back injury needs surgery, and revealed that the medical team estimated the recovery period to be about three months. The release of this news was even earlier than the official announcement of the Barcelona Club, and the club did not clearly provide a specific comeback schedule, which triggered a series of discussions. The focus of the issue is on the relevant regulations of the La Liga. According to the rules, only when the official medical committee of the league officially determines that Ter Stegen's injury is "seriously injured", Club Barcelona is eligible to apply for the activation of special terms, using the part of the released salary space in Ter Stegen to register the newly introduced goalkeeper Joan Garcia as his replacement. The player himself unilaterally announced the details of the injury and the specific recovery time, which was interpreted by the outside world as possible attempting to affect the independent judgment process of the Medical Committee.

In response to this situation, Dr. Rippoll, a well-known Spanish expert in orthopedics and trauma, expressed his professional views when he participated in the Sel Radio program. Dr. Rippol said that based on his understanding of the operation of the La Liga Medical Committee, he believes that the committee members "will not bite this bait", which means they will not be influenced by the players' information and they will make due ruling strictly based on professional evaluation. He stressed that this judgment not only concerns the Barcelona club, but also affects the competitive landscape of the entire La Liga, involving other clubs such as Elche and Real Sociedad, which raises a deeper question: Where is the boundary of players' personal medical privacy rights in professional sports? How to weigh it when the player's health information directly affects the interests of many other participants in the league?

At the professional level, Dr. Rippol expressed clear doubts about the three-month recovery period proposed by Ter Stegen. He admitted that this time "looks very nervous". He explained that from general experience, recovery after such surgery “is more likely to take about four months.” He specifically noted that considering Ter Stegen's past injury history - having had knee surgery twice and now having to undergo back surgery again - despite being an "extraordinary athlete", the prediction of recovery time is noticeable. When asked why it was so precise, Dr. Rippol suggested that it was easy to think of some "not very legitimate" reasons.

In addition, Dr. Rippol also criticized Ter Stegen's choice to publish information by himself at this time. He believes that the "wiser and logical way" is to keep silent and wait for the operation to be completed and the information will be released uniformly by the club's official medical team. He pointed out that the current operation timing and method "is easy to cause misunderstandings." Dr. Rippol further explained that in a short period of time, the recovery process is not easy for the goalkeeper position who needs to make frequent saves. He also added that it is often difficult for the La Liga Medical Committee to accurately determine the recovery period to the extent of the month when conducting an evaluation.