by Ben Phillips (3/2/23)
Above: Arsenal head coach Jonas Eidevall, who spoke to the media today. Photo: Arsenal Women.
Arsenal boss Jonas Eidevall reflected in depth with the media today about his club’s transfer window with the North Londoners failing to land a striker to replace ACL victims Beth Mead and Vivianne Miedema.
Eidevall had earlier this month had admitted his desire to add a striker in this window to add goals to his side after losing Mead and Miedema with long-term injuries. The club subsequently has been reported to have made two world record bids for Manchester United striker Alessia Russo, rumoured to be around £500,000 but the Red Devils declined the offers, stating that their Lionesses star is not for sale at any price.
The failure to land Russo was an example of the North London side failing to boost their ranks with some additional firepower. Asked in his media conference today if this will have an adverse impact on his side, Eidevall said: “The squad we have currently have I have a lot of belief in and we have a lot of potential…that we can focus on. We need to keep the higher standards expected of us and the consistency, even if we don’t have enough time to rest between games.”
There was also lots of speculation that Chelsea made a substantial bid for the club’s Republic of Ireland captain Katie McCabe ahead of the close of the window. McCabe has 18 months left on her current contract, but Arsenal were not keen to sell to their WSL title rivals.
Eidevall was asked about the speculation around McCabe, saying: “Potential players leaving and going out was nonsense, we as a club are not able to lose players. My role at Arsenal as the coach is not to be directly involved around transfers and recruitment, but the key decisions are my remit.
“Recruitment is always key to a successful team; we must look at things going forward and how we can improve things in the transfer windows as a club.”
Arsenal are back in WSL action when they travel to West Ham United this weekend after an emphatic 9-0 win against fourth-tier side Leeds United last time out.
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