After a long time, there will be a fight for the first choice goalkeeper position at Barcelona. Victor Valdes kept this position in his own hands for the last decade, but the exit of the Spanish international after the end of his contract last season has marked the end of an era. Barcelona strengthened the goalkeeper position with two signings in the summer. Marc-Andre ter Stegen has been brought in from Borussia Mönchengladbach, while World Cup star Claudio Bravo has also come into the club. It is highly expected that Ter Stegen will be starting the new campaign is the number one goalkeeper.

This is despite the fact that he failed to make it into the World Cup 2014 squad with the German national team, which already has one of the best in the world – Manuel Neuer. Bravo, though, has come to the Camp Nou with the hope that he can capture the spot going into the new season. After a spectacular World Cup with the Chilean national team, he can look forward to claiming a spot right away. He has joined from Real Sociedad for around € 12 million. He has been a regular first-team player for the last seven out of the eight seasons.

“I have been surprised by many things that Ter Stegen has done. He has great quality and is already talking the native language, Catalan. [Goalkeeping youth product] Jordi Masip is also training well and knows the methodology of Barca. In my career I have never been a substitute but I have always started from scratch with my peers. Here there is a healthy competition that will help the team to be as prepared as possible. I think we both have the same chance to be a starter,” said Bravo. Barcelona’s new season starts with a pre-season match against Nice.