Arsenal goalkeeper set for HARDEST debut ever

Robin Bairner

• 26 Sept 2025 08:30 BST
• 4 min read

Feature

When Karl Hein left Arsenal in the summer to join Werder Bremen on loan, he would not have envisaged facing such a daunting debut.

The Estonian shot-stopper will be given a baptism of fire for his new club on Friday, when they travel to face Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena.

FCB’s attack is in red-hot form, having scored 18 goals in their first four Bundesliga matches. Werder, meanwhile, have been a shambles defensively, conceding 10.

Current ETV

Karl Hein

GK

Karl Hein

GK

€3.8M

ETV Range

€3M - €4.5M

View full profile

The 23-year-old Hein is set to be given the daunting task of stopping the Bavarians. With regular goalkeeper Mio Backhaus out injured, he’ll be playing behind a defensive line that is both shaky and unfamiliar to him. Good luck.

Captain Marco Friedl has watched his team capitulate on a weekly basis this term. Bremen have allowed three or more goals in three of their four Bundesliga matches and were left embarrassed by an embarrassing cup loss to lower league side Arminia Bielefeld in August.

That August cup exit prompted Friedl to admit: “We’re in deep s**t.”

Things have not gotten much better since. Last weekend, they were thumped 3-0 at home against Freiburg and will now run into European Golden Shoe leader Harry Kane, scorer of eight league goals already.

Hein set for ‘impossible’ debut

Hein is likely in for a long night, according to Bundesliga expert Ronan Murphy.

“Werder Bremen have gone through a difficult summer, losing some key players and failing to really replace them. They only spent money on one player, Samuel Mbangula from Juventus, and although he had a promising start, he’s currently recovering from injury,” Murphy explained to FootballTransfers.

“Loan signings have attempted to patch over these gaps, including Victor Boniface from Bayer Leverkusen, who had a dreadful debut and does not look fit.

“Arsenal goalkeeper Karl Hein also came on loan and is set to make his debut in the most difficult place possible: Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena.

“Bremen captain Marco Friedl is an injury doubt and without him to marshal the backline, SVW could be in even bigger trouble than usual. Which is made even worse by the fact that this is the highest-scoring Bayern side in Bundesliga history.

“The Bavarians have 18 goals after four match days, a new Bundesliga record, with Harry Kane closing in on 100 goals for Bayern Munich and needing to score twice against the Arsenal loanee to break the record held by Cristiano Ronaldo and Erling Haaland for the quickest century at a new club.

“Bookies are so confident in Bayern winning that gamblers looking to double their money need to bet on Kane and Co. to score at least five goals to line their pockets.

“Hein faces an impossible challenge as a nightmare debut awaits.”

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