Arsenal’s Mika Biereth says he was open to a permanent move to Sturm Graz in January, but the Gunners shut down that possibility.

Arsenal striker Mika Biereth is arguably the club’s standout loanee this season, with 11 goals and six assists in his 22 games between loans to Motherwell and Sturm Graz.

Focusing solely on the Sturm loan, Biereth has scored five and assisted one in the seven games since his debut just over a month ago.

The 21-year-old’s record is particularly impressive considering he suffered a knee injury in a terrible challenge earlier this season, missing a month and a half of action.

There’s still a few months of the season left to play, but the question now on many people’s minds is what’s next for Biereth.

On that topic, it was interesting to see Sturm Graz’s sporting director Andreas Schicker recently confirm that the club wanted to sign Biereth permanently, or at least include an option to buy in the loan.

Schicker added that Sturm would revisit the situation in the summer.

Speaking to the i newspaper, Biereth has admitted he did initially want to make the permanent switch to Sturm, but Arsenal ruled it out.

“He [Andreas Schicker, Sturm Graz’s sporting director] even said himself that they tried to do a permanent [transfer]. I was open to that as well but Arsenal weren’t looking to allow me to leave,” Biereth said.

“It was kind of simple that I wasn’t for sale in January.”

As for his plans for the summer, Biereth appears to want his chance at Arsenal, but he isn’t planning to stick around if he doesn’t get games.

“I’m on loan so all I can do is score as many goals and play as well as I can so that when I come back in the summer hopefully I can get an opportunity,” Biereth said.

“My biggest priority is I need to be playing first-team football. I’m not overly keen on sitting on benches and just watching. I want it to be like the six months I had at Motherwell and the start here: playing games and scoring goals.

“If there is a high level I can do to where I’ll just be watching I’d rather drop down a level so I can play games. That whole process will just be me finding out where that best place is.”

Biereth is set for a big few months, but if he can keep scoring and then impress in pre-season, maybe a future at Arsenal is still on the table.