"A move to us won't be feasible for Cam in this window. We're focused on other options," said sporting director Peter Niemeyer, closing the door on a reunion that head coach Daniel Thioune had pushed hard for internally. Bild reports the two clubs simply could not find common ground, with Werder having hoped the Saudi side would soften their stance as the deadline approached - a concession that never materialised.
Puertas spent last season on loan at Werder Bremen, making 28 appearances and impressing enough that Thioune made his permanent return a personal priority for the summer.
Al-Qadsiah, though, were said to be holding out for a fee close to €10m - roughly the same figure written into Werder's now-expired option to buy - a sum the Bundesliga club could not stretch to even after banking around €20m from Karim Coulibaly's sale to Strasbourg.
The player himself was reportedly willing to accept a reduced salary to force the move through, but that goodwill alone was not enough to bridge the gap between the two clubs.
With Puertas now definitively unavailable, Werder's attention has turned elsewhere in midfield, with the club continuing to weigh up alternative additions before Tuesday's deadline. The episode closes a saga that had rumbled on for much of the summer, with Werder repeatedly signalling their desire for a permanent deal only for Al-Qadsiah's valuation - inflated in part by their own recent spending, including a club-record fee for Tijjani Reijnders - to prove an obstacle too large to overcome.
Born in Lausanne to Spanish parents, Puertas moved to Al-Qadsiah from Belgian side Royale Union Saint-Gilloise in 2024 for around €15m, before his loan to the Weser last summer reinvigorated a career that had stalled somewhat in Saudi Arabia.
With no route back to Bremen now available, his club future remains unclear, with Werder instead expected to explore other midfield targets, including Moussa Ndiaye and Youri Regeer, as the club looks to fill the gap in the closing hours of the window.