Ter Stegen Ajax Loan Cleared for Takeoff After Tax Hurdle Removed

FC Barcelona have spent much of this summer working to trim a wage structure that has long complicated their room for manoeuvre in the market, and one of the more stubborn pieces of that puzzle is now falling into place. Marc-André ter Stegen’s loan move to Ajax for the 2026-27 season, agreed in principle earlier this month, had stalled over a tax complication – but that obstacle has now been cleared, and the deal is on the verge of becoming official.

As Sport has reported, the resolution of the tax issue opens the door for ter Stegen to travel to Amsterdam, where he is scheduled to undergo medical tests later on Wednesday. Barring any late complication, Ajax expect to confirm the signing within 24 hours.

The financial mechanics of the arrangement are worth noting. Barcelona are retaining the vast majority of ter Stegen’s wages as part of the agreement, meaning the immediate wage-bill relief for the Catalans is real but modest. The club’s broader calculation is that even a partial reduction has value, and that removing a player Hansi Flick has no use for – however limited the saving – is preferable to carrying him through another season without competitive minutes. Those complications around ter Stegen’s situation had been apparent for some time, with a permanent exit proving impossible to engineer given the terms of a contract understood to run until June 2028.

The driving force behind Ajax’s move is new head coach Michel Sánchez, who worked with the Germany international during the second half of last season at Girona. That prior relationship is clearly central to the logic of the deal from the Dutch club’s side, though the signing has drawn criticism in the Netherlands – Ajax’s decision to bring in a high-earning, 34-year-old keeper on loan rather than developing a younger option sitting uneasily with sections of their support and punditry.

For ter Stegen personally, the move represents his first genuine opportunity to play regularly in roughly two years. Flick made clear early in his tenure that the German was not part of his first-choice plans, and ter Stegen’s role at the club had effectively been reduced to a contractual presence on the fringes of the squad. Ajax, under Sánchez’s system, are expected to lean on him as an organiser of the first phase of buildup – a role that suits the profile he developed at Barcelona over more than a decade.

The move fits a pattern the Blaugranes have followed across the last two summers: managing goalkeeper depth through outbound loans while keeping wage commitments off the active squad sheet where possible. With the 2026-27 season approaching, Barcelona will monitor ter Stegen’s form at Ajax – not out of sentiment, but because his performances in Amsterdam will inform any decisions about his future once the loan concludes.