University of Manchester denied Ter Stegen City move

History has no blank pages. One only needs to look at the story of Manchester City to see that. There, one can read the story of Marc-André Ter Stegen's last minute u-turn to stay at  Barcelona in 2016 , instead of moving to the 'Blues'. However, this u-turn was not down to sporting reasons, rather for academic reasons; not the goalkeeper's, but his girlfriend's. 

According to the story, reported by Luis Martín and Pol Ballús, the German's girlfriend was allowed to take the entrance exams for the University of Manchester. Unfortunately for her, Ter Stegen, and Manchester City; the player's girlfriend could not provide the documents that were required to complete her enrollment, and so that was when the dream died. 

Usually, in circumstances such as these, footballers would receive preferential treatment. However, the academic entity in question were very firm in their insistence to maintain admissions criteria, and so even as Ter Stegen's girlfriend, there was no preferential treatment. 

This, coupled with the fact that Barcelona 'did not want to sell for anything in the world', meant that City would opt for Ter Stegen's Chilean teammate, Claudio Bravo, who would move to Manchester instead. 

Xabi Mancisidor, the 'Citizens' goalkeeper coach, had already worked alongside the Chilean at Real Sociedad, that opened the door for negotiations between Barcelona and Manchester City. 

On occasion, the game of football is so urgent, that sometimes it overlooks the little details that only a little later on emerge as vital. In this case, Ter Stegen has gone on to become a stalwart in the Barcelona goal, whereas Bravo, although ruled out for the remainder of the current season, was replaced after one season as City number one, as the club spent big on young Brazilian Ederson. Perhaps Manchester City will be more insistent on the finer details of transfer dealings in the future.