Jonas Eidevall press conference ahead of Arsenal Womens 1st WSL clash of the season by Michelle
“I´ll be honest, I wanted one more in” Jonas Eidevall on Arsenal’s summer transfer window.
Arsenal Women coach Jonas Eidevall admits that he wanted one more player in the summer transfer window but is happy to wait until the next transfer Window in January to get that player.
The Gunners did indeed have a very big squad last season and let several players leave. Anna Patten joined Aston Villa on loan, while Nikita Parris, Lisa Evans, Lydia Williams, Simone Boye, Viki Schnaderbeck and Tobin Heath all left the club this summer.
Arsenal brought in American goalkeeper Kaylan Marckese and Swedish forward Lina Hurtig, while young Brazilian forward Gio has signed to Arsenal but has been immediately loaned to Everton. Arsenal were also linked with moves late in the transfer window for Canadian defender Jade Rose and Malawian striker Temwa Chawinga.
In this pre-Brighton press conference Arseblog News asked Eidevall whether he was satisfied with the squad building work over the summer. “I am going to be very honest, ideally I would have liked one more player. When you do transfers it is always like this, there are so many reasons why things can’t go through.
“Our preference was that if we couldn’t find the perfect fit in this window, we would rather wait and do it in the next window. But it’s not really more than one player (he wanted). When you see the list of players in and out with Arsenal it is very skewed compared to other clubs.
“In January, we brought in three players and didn’t release any because of the Asia Cup at that time, so that meant we carried a very big squad during the spring which was a couple of players too large to accommodate.
“It was natural that there were going to be more players out than in, and it was more important to keep the key players for us so we can keep building consistency and culture with them. One more player would have been ideal but that will have to be in January.”
Arseblog News also asked about the contingency for the defensive midfield position with Lia Wälti the only member of the squad for whom that is the preferred position.
“Leah (Williamson) can also play there and has played there for England, Kim Little can definitely play there. If Frida Maanum improves her defence, and that’s just some small adjustments she needs to make in her positioning and decision making there, I think she has all the other tools to be able to do it as well.
“It’s the same options that we had from last season, so we have continuity there and I am comfortable with that. We have different types of players who can play there which gives us different tools depending on which opponent we are playing.”
Only 2 days to go until we see our Arsenal Women in action, kicking off their first game of the Womens Super League 2022/23 season. Can´t wait!
Michelle Maxwell
Follow Michelle on Just Gooner Women on Twitter for regular updates on the Arsenal Womens Team!
Do you want to read more about the Arsenal Womens Team? Click here….
