“?Werder Bremen captain Clemens Fritz has revealed he has spoken to Arsenal defender Per Mertesacker about the possibility of the giant centre-back returning to his former club in the near future – and Fritz admits he hopes it happens.
“We have talked about it. Per would be a great addition to Werder, as a footballer and as a person,” Fritz (who spent five years as a team-mate of Mertesacker’s) told Bild.
“It would be a good thing for the club if Per would opt for Bremen,” he added.
Mertesacker, now 32 years of age and currently nursing a knee injury that will keep him out of action until after Christmas, is due to be out of contract at the end of the season and is free to open formal talks with foreign clubs in January.
He was named Arsenal captain in the summer following Mikel Arteta’s retirement, but the arrival of £35m fellow countryman Shkodran Mustafi has ensured that when he does return to fitness, Mertesacker will have been pushed down the defensive pecking order.
Gabriel Paulista, Rob Holding and even Calum Chambers – assuming he isn’t sold permanently after a season-long loan move to Middlesbrough – will also be fighting for places behind Mustafi and French international Laurent Koscielny in the future.
Arsenal fans have already seen one German make the move from North London to Bremen in recent times after winger Serge Gnabry joined the club for a fee of around £5m in August.
Only this week, Werder general manager Frank Baumann, another like Fritz who played alongside Mertesacker, confirmed that the defender’s situation was a topic of conversation with Arsenal at the same time as the Gnabry deal was being discussed.
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