SECOND SIGNING: Arsenal set to reveal their second January signing with agreement reached with the club, salary structure confirmed as announcement imminent
Arsenal youngster Mika Biereth has been recalled from his loan at Motherwell despite an impressive first half to the season. It follows a trend for the Gunners this window with very little first team movement in January.
Mikel Arteta has already seen Brazilian forward Marquinhos return to the club having failed to make much of an impact at Nantes in Ligue 1. It is the second temporary move in a row that he has struggled with having been at Norwich after January last year.
The boss is being frustrated in the market though as his side, along with most of the rest of the Premier League, are dealing with the threat of serious punishments if financial rules are broken. After both Everton and Nottingham Forest were charged with a second set of misdoings it has left teams being extremely careful with their spending.
For Arteta it comes at a bad time with Arsenal trying to turn their mini-slump around having won just one of their last seven games. That change is unlikely to come via any new additions though as football.london understands there is a very real possibility that no incomings are made before the February 1 deadline.
The club are remaining active though and have seemingly spotted a way to enhance Biereth’s progression. With six goals and five assists coming in just 14 Scottish League games, even more impressive when considering it is from only 11 starts, he has been a standout player in what is a poor side.
Motherwell are ninth (out of 12) and have won just one of their past 17 games. Biereth’s return has come as a surprise to manager Stuart Kettlewell but may well be part of a grander scheme at Arsenal. “It’s a major, major disappointment,” the manager said about the 20-year-old forward. “This was a little bit unexpected.
“They believe there’s an opportunity to send him to another club that takes him that step beyond where we are just now.” It has been reported in The Star that Biereth is set to be on his way to Championship outfit Sheffield Wednesday.
The Owls, now managed by Danny Rohl, have already brought in goalkeeper James Beadle from Brighton as well as former Chelsea striker Ike Ugbo, who arrived from Troyes. Both players have been signed on loans as Rohl looks to stave off relegation with Wednesday currently third bottom.
Not only is the loan system being used here, a unique method has been put into action which explains the cancellation of Biereth’s stay above the border. Ugbo and Beadle themselves were already on loan elsewhere before this window – Cardiff and Oxford, respectively – but were convinced to drop those commitments in order for a new challenge.
It is certainly a new way of doing things and Wednesday will be hoping to get the best out of Biereth after he trained with the Arsenal first team recently during the Scottish winter break, it is said. He spent last year on loan at RKC Waalwijk in the Dutch top division having joined the Gunners academy from Fulham after impressing with 25 goals and 15 assists in just 37games.
He was signed on a pro deal in 2021 and has been a regular standout across the Hale End youth sides with 12 goals and another five assists in 26 games. Although he is yet to make a debut for Arsenal, he was named on the bench during the 2021/22 campaign for a 0-0 draw with Burnley and was also part of the squad for cup games against Nottingham Forest and Liverpool. His next test, if it is to be at Hillsborough, certainly looks set to be the toughest of his career so far.
