Motherwell boss Stuart Kettlewell has confirmed that Mika Biereth has been recalled from his loan spell by Arsenal because the striker has been offered the opportunity to play elsewhere.
It was reported yesterday that the Denmark under-21 international is on Sheffield Wednesday’s radar and that the Gunners were open to facilitating a move to Hillsborough.
“Mika has been recalled. It’s been a difficult one for us over the last 24 hours. Arsenal have called him back. It’s a major, major disappointment to us of course,” said Kettlewell on Thursday morning.
“They feel that he’s been in a terrific position. They’ve loved the working environment here. Again, I go back to the personal relationship with myself and the player and the staff to the player. It’s been terrific, it’s been really, really good.
“This was a little bit unexpected, the conversation was that Mika would stay here until the end of the season as recently as last week; that he would 100% be staying at Motherwell unless something really big came on the table for Arsenal and something that they thought was an opportunity that they can’t turn down.
“There’s a situation there that’s completely out of our hands that they believe that there’s an opportunity to send him to another club that takes him that step beyond where we are just now. My hands are tied on that, it’s a major disappointment on that one for me.
“There’s been a huge thank you from Arsenal for how we’ve handled the player and how we’ve treated him and the strides that he’s made over the last six months or so, five months or so.
“We love working with him, we love having him in our group. He’s a good player, everybody has seen that. But as I say, I can only say that it’s a situation which is completely out of our control.
“There’s a recall on all of these loans and we felt that unless something major came in that Mika was going to be here. But it seems that an opportunity has come about. That’s not for me to tell anybody what that is or what that looks like. All I can tell you is that the player has been recalled and is back down at Arsenal.”
Biereth scored five goals and made six assists in 15 appearances for the Steelmen; an impressive return that has alerted a number of clubs to his potential.
Does it really make sense to do all this only to send him on another loan? If there is a purchase clause then ok, but otherwise why to take him away from the productive environment he has been in?
It’s a bit of a shame really. I hope it won’t affect much our relationship with Motherwell, or impact negatively our perception by other clubs that might be willing to take our players on loan.
And that Biereth will thrive at Sheffield, but given their current Championship position I’m not overly confident.
The relationship with other teams is secondary, to our players development
I can’t make sense of this either. Is there really that much of a difference between the Scottish prem and the championship, especially where their relative positions are in both competitions?
Is the financial gain anything significant? Hes excelling, if he counted to do so, better clubs than Sheffield Wednesday would be calling next season. Our loans are categorically not working at the moment, and I don’t think that’s on the players.
The championship is a bloody strong league and is ranked 11 in the world. Scots prem is 17th.
I suspect potential suitors will need to pay a substantial increase if a player has performed well in multiple leagues.
The statement from Motherwell doesn’t indicate they have an issue with the way this has been handled so it’s surprising to see people reach for that conclusion.
I suppose the only issue he has is that he probably thinks Sheffield (currently) isn’t any stronger than Motherwell and probably doesn’t understand why we have to remove an important player from their squad. Which team is stronger is not for me to judge, I have no clue and don’t care, but I guess if we loaned him to Feyenoord, Monaco, Sampdoria or Brighton, the interview would have sounded a bit different and he would hail the opportunity for the lad. The legal situation is obviously clear to him and results in us having the right to recall the player… Read more »
He needs higher level of play.
It’s a shame as Mika appeared settled and seemed on the surface to have a good relationship with the club and fans at Motherwell, but he must also want this move and see it as a step up in quality and intensity. Whatever we may think of Wednesday it’s certain that he’ll be competing against much better players and teams in the Championship.
Hopefully the relationship with Motherwell remains good and we can come to other future arrangements on loans.
They were doing a great job with him and have to feel for them . He played really well v rangers ans they got a result against them which was big for them .
Maybe send Myles Skelly or ethan up there for 6 months to harden them up , they have fine setup and like hibs as they took great care of stokes previously and we broke that loan to sell him to Sunderland, the SPL is a good place for these lads to cut their teeth
Having watched him a fair bit Bierith could have been tried as an alternative plan B striker for us ? I think he’s good enough to try ?
Yeah why not, right?
Always difficult for Mother to biereave a loss like this.
Well, well…
I knew the decision wouldn’t suit his Mother well.
Losing a five goal / six assist striker at this point is definitely going to screw their season.
I guess that makes Sheffield Motherwellfuckers.
Worth a go as an Nketiah alternative? Waiting for the thumbs down but why not.
I remember that “Nketiah is ahead of him. We need to treat people decently” from Arteta responding to a question about Balogun. Nketiah has solid job security, good for him.