Wigan Athletic boss Roberto Martinez admits Paul Scharner is only a stop-gap signing.
Martinez ruled out any possibility of Scharner, 32, returning on a full-time basis.
He said: "He's going back to Hamburg at the end of the season but his priority at the moment is to be successful at Wigan and then he'll want to go to German football and be successful there.
"I'll have to assess his match fitness but he's not a foreign player coming unprepared to this league.
"He's experienced enough and he knows how to cope with that - and he's absolutely desperate to play centre-half."