Ajax Manage ter Stegen's Injury as Klopp Eyes Future No 1
Marc-André ter Stegen’s return to centre stage is on hold for a few more days. Ajax Amsterdam coach Míchel has confirmed the goalkeeper is still managing a serious injury and has been deliberately left out of Tuesday night’s league game against Willem II Tilburg.
“Marc is recovering from a serious injury,” Míchel said, explaining his decision to rest the 34-year-old. With an international break looming, Ajax have chosen caution over sentiment.
The timing suits Ajax. It also suits Germany.
Ajax play it safe
Míchel sees this stretch as the ideal window to protect his first-choice keeper and test his understudy.
He called the current moment “favourable” to hand minutes to Maarten Paes so ter Stegen “can properly recover for the game on Saturday as well as the subsequent international break”. Paes steps in now; the plan is that ter Stegen returns sharper, not sorer.
Míchel went further, outlining a clear recovery roadmap. “Should ter Stegen travel to the national team – which is likely – we will then have time to continue working on his recovery,” he said. Club and country are being woven into the same plan.
Klopp’s crown prince
In Germany, Jürgen Klopp is already plotting with ter Stegen at the heart of his new era.
According to media reports, the new national coach is counting on the long-time “eternal” crown prince to Manuel Neuer as his future No 1. That status is not new: ter Stegen had already been elevated under Julian Nagelsmann when Neuer briefly stepped away from the national team after Euro 2024, only for injuries to halt the Barcelona legend’s momentum.
His last appearance for Germany came on 8 June 2025, a 2-0 Nations League defeat to France in Stuttgart. Since then, setbacks have piled up, while the debate over the goalkeeper’s hierarchy never really stopped.
Now, with Neuer definitively retired from international duty and former No 2 Oliver Baumann no longer in the frame, the stage is clearing.
A homecoming for a new era
If his body holds, ter Stegen’s comeback for Germany could hardly be scripted better.
For Klopp’s debut in the dugout, Germany travel to face the Netherlands in Amsterdam on 24 September in the Nations League – effectively a home game for the Ajax keeper in his own stadium. After that, Germany meet Greece on 27 September, Serbia on 1 October, then Greece again on 4 October in a packed international window.
Klopp will announce his squad on Thursday at 10am, and all signs point to a large group of goalkeepers.
- Alexander Nübel of Besiktas
- Bayern Munich’s Jonas Urbig
- Augsburg’s Finn Dahmen
It is a fresh pecking order, with no Neuer safety net and no Baumann in reserve.
Ajax are banking on rest now to have their No 1 fully primed by the weekend. Germany are hoping the same careful management finally delivers the man long tipped to inherit the gloves.
The question is no longer whether ter Stegen is next in line. It is whether his body will let him stay there.
