Werder Bremen are set to sign Karl Hein permanently, despite the goalkeeper’s limited minutes this season and the fact he ended his loan spell with an injury.
Dominik Schneider of FussballTransfers has broken the news that Werder Bremen plan to activate their €3m option to sign Karl Hein permanently, with the goalkeeper signing a four-year contract at his new club.
Hein spent the 2025/26 season on loan with Werder Bremen, and he only played in two matches, but it seems the club are now ready to put faith in him on a long-term basis.
The key factor driving the move is the imminent departure of Werder Bremen goalkeeper Mio Backhaus to SC Freiburg for a fee in the region of €15m.
Backhaus kept Hein out of the Werder Bremen team for almost the entire season, but now that he’s on the way out, Hein should get the chance to start matches on a regular basis.
Hein impressed in his two games on the pitch in Germany, and Schneider reports that the Arsenal goalkeeper “made an excellent impression”. He’s now expected to be Werder Bremen’s first-choice goalkeeper.
From an Arsenal perspective, this development is good news. Whilst €3m isn’t a huge fee, it’s at least something for a player who has spent almost the entire year on the fringes.
For the last couple of months, Hein hasn’t even been on the bench, having picked up a thumb injury in training.
It might have been difficult to find to find a buyer this summer, so Werder Bremen activating their purchase option would make things significantly less complicated.
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