Per Mertesacker has revealed he’s been trying to get Arsenal youngsters on loan to his old club, Werder Bremen, but he doesn’t think he will be successful.

Arsenal signed Per Mertesacker from Werder Bremen in 2011 for a fee of just over £10m. The BFG went on to be an incredible servant to the Arsenal team, becoming captain and, eventually, manager of the Academy when he hung up his playing boots.

Werder Bremen, however, have been hankering after him since the moment he left.

Back in 2016, they even admitted they used Serge Gnabry talks as a way to hold ‘initial talks’ with Mertesacker about getting him to leave Arsenal before his contract expired.

Back in March, Mertesacker hinted at the possibility of Arsenal’s academy working with Werder Bremen after travelling to Germany to meet with representatives from his old club.

Now, he’s been speaking some more on that to the media in Germany.

The Google translate on this isn’t great, but I’ve tidied it up where I feel able (without being able to speak German) if I know it won’t change what is intended.

“I’m doing everything in my power to help Werder,” Mertesacker told Delmenhorster Kreisblatt.

“The leads in the summer into a transfer but [that is] rather unlikely.”

Mertesacker played with Frank Baumann, Werder Breman’s sporting director, and Clemens Fritz, who is in charge of loans at the German club, and added “Of course we talk, the wires are short.

“We have confidence in us. There are many young players in England at the moment [going] to Germany. We’ll talk about it, of course.

“Let’s see what we can do in the future to lend [players], to take advantage of this environment here [in Germany].

“This has proven successful in the past.“

With only another two years left on his Arsenal contract, it’s not written in stone that he’s with us for the long haul. In fact, he’d quite like a return to Werder Bremen, a club he has always maintained close contact with.

“I don’t feel able to take on the role of a sports manager, or a sports business leader, but in the direction it goes for me,” says Mertesacker who did not want to rule out a return to Werder Bremen.

“The identification is there. I felt very comfortable here.”