Arsenal boss Jonas Eidevall says there are “things we need to look at in order to be better” with regard to recruitment after they failed to bring in another forward before the January window closed.
With Beth Mead and Vivianne Miedema both sidelined by ACL injuries, Eidevall had expressed his desire for a “prolific goalscorer” to be signed.
The Gunners had a second, world-record bid – reported to be just under £500,000 – for England forward Alessia Russo rejected by Manchester United just before Tuesday’s transfer deadline.
Eidevall told a press conference on Friday: “I think recruitment is key if you’re going to be a successful team.
“Last summer I think we got one player too little, and now we did that again in January. So obviously there are things we need to look at in order to be better because over time these things really have a big impact on the way we can perform and ambitions we need to have. That’s very important for us.”
Arsenal are three points behind Women’s Super League leaders United and second-placed Chelsea with a game in hand.
Midfielders Victoria Pelova and Kathrine Kuhl and goalkeeper Sabrina D’Angelo were signed in January, while teenage Brazil winger Gio was recalled from her loan spell at Everton.
Eidevall added: “I think I was clear in the window that we needed another forward and we identified targets.
“I know the club worked very hard, but it was a very difficult transfer window, not to find players to want to play for Arsenal, (and) there is plenty of high quality, but to find clubs wanting to sell quality players.
“That was very tricky and we were not successful, and of course we are disappointed with that, but now we have to look forward and make the best of the situation. I still have a squad with a lot of qualities, that I believe a lot in.
“We are short in numbers, we know that, that can be a potential problem, but we have to work together and do it as good as possible to reach our goals.
“Without going into details on discussing what our targets were, we searched globally for players. It was a very tricky window to find clubs wanting to release players because it’s an immature transfer market where if they release a player, they have a really hard time finding their replacement.
“We knew it was going to be hard, but it was even harder than we thought.”
The Swede, whose side go to West Ham on Sunday, added: “You can have results, or excuses, I don’t think you can have both, and I am going to try to have results.”
For all the latest Sports News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.
