Werder Bremen sporting director Frank Baumann has rejected claims they are interested in signing Arsenal centre-back Per Mertesacker on loan during this transfer window.
A report in the Times (paywall) had suggested that the Gunners were willing to allow the 32-year-old to leave on loan this month despite manager Arsene Wenger confirming that the club would give the German international a one year contract extension.
Baumann told local newspaper Kreiszeitung that they will not be signing any players in January:
‘Even if we had the chance [to sign him], we don’t want to sign any players.’
Mertesacker played for Werder Bremen for five years between 2006 and 2011 before joining the Gunners. He has been sidelined since August with a troublesome knee injury. The defender has returned to training but is now behind Laurent Koscielny and Shkodran Mustafi in the pecking order at the Emirates.
It has been suggested that to get game time, and to improve his fitness, he would be sent out on loan but it seems his destination won’t be his former club if he does depart.
