Arsenal confirm €3m sale of 24yo
· Yahoo Sports
Arsenal have confirmed Karl Hein will join Werder Bremen permanently in July, with the Bundesliga club set to activate their €3m option.
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Arsenal have confirmed that Karl Hein will join Werder Bremen permanently in July 2026, with the Bundesliga side set to activate their €3m purchase option after his season on loan in Germany.
The 24-year-old goalkeeper spent the 2025/26 campaign with Werder Bremen, making only two Bundesliga appearances, but the club are now prepared to back him over the longer term.
Hein is expected to sign a four-year contract and should have a clearer route to regular football following Mio Backhaus’s impending move to SC Freiburg for a fee in the region of €15m.
Backhaus kept Hein out of the team for most of the season, but his departure changes the situation. Hein impressed in the limited opportunities he had, with Schneider reporting that the Arsenal goalkeeper “made an excellent impression”.
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He is now expected to become Werder Bremen’s first-choice goalkeeper, after he recovers from the thumb injury that required surgery and ended his season in March.
The €3m fee is modest, but it gives the club a return for a player who was unlikely to have a clear pathway in north London and who has spent much of the past few years on the fringes.
Hein joined Arsenal from hometown club Nomme United in June 2018 and signed his first professional contract the following year. His senior debut came in November 2022, when Arsenal faced Brighton & Hove Albion in the Carabao Cup third round at Emirates Stadium which the Gunners lost 3-1.
It was the only senior appearance he made.
An Estonia international with 45 senior caps, Hein also had loan spells at Reading in the Championship during the 2021/22 season and Real Valladolid, where he made 32 appearances in all competitions last season, earning praise from the Real Madrid president for his performance against them.
The permanent move now gives Hein the chance to establish himself properly in the Bundesliga, while Arsenal move on a goalkeeper whose senior prospects at the club were increasingly limited.