Arsenal boss Renee Slegers has confirmed that the club want to add a goalkeeper in the January transfer market following an injury to Manu Zinsberger. The Austrian ruptured her ACL in October and will miss the remainder of the season.
Meanwhile, first choice Daphne van Domselaar will be absent for the remainder of the year due to a quad tendon issue and she has been managing injuries since April. That means that summer signing Anneke Borbe will make her full debut against Liverpool tomorrow, with 17-year-old Amy Liddiard on the bench. Usual third choice Naomi Williams is on loan at Bristol City but has found minutes tough to come by.
Asked by Arseblog News whether Slegers will want a goalkeeper in the January window, Slegers confirmed, ‘Yes, definitely, because Manu is out and Daphne has been managing issues, so we’re definitely looking. When we have more clarity then of course things will go forward and become public.
‘We’re definitely looking at that position because we think we need a really strong goalkeeper union with three goalkeepers available and we’re not in that situation at the moment so we’ll have to solve that for the second half of the season.’
Meanwhile, Slegers responded to an article during the international break from The Athletic which suggested there are issues in the dressing room and player cliques. Slegers admitted that the environment is demanding at Arsenal but suggested that is normal.
‘We won the Champions League, historically we are the most successful club in England, there is noise on the outside, there will always be noise, but on the inside we know what we are doing. It is a high performance environment, so we demand a lot of things of each other.
‘It should be like that, if you look internally you see a lot of really, really good things going on. Every group of people has to manage things and get through but I am very positive about where we are. I can say that full-hearted because I am on the inside and can see what is happening.
‘I am happy with the squad and believe in everything they do, we are in a process and I believe in the process. We are growing in the right direction, it is unfortunate that there is noise on the outside but there will be noise on the outside.’
Pressed on whether she was disappointed to read the report, Slegers said, ‘I don’t read media but I have to be across certain things so I did read it. I wasn’t too emotional because we have such clarity on what we are doing here.
‘I didn’t agree with it and I think it is unfortunate that this is what is written about us while we are doing so many good things and a lot of people invested in the process. Maybe that was the little emotion I felt, but not more than that.
‘It is unfortunate because we pride ourselves on winning trophies and we won a big trophy last year. We are not happy with certain performances, moments in games and some results and we want to do better. That is the vulnerable position we are in and when people start to write things.
‘Media is important to us, you help to develop the game and give us that exposure which is positive, in this case it wasn’t positive for us but we have to find safety and security in knowing what we are doing.
‘Not every single thing is positive and I think that is the case for every single sports team but we are in a good process and we know where we are at at the moment and we know where we want to go.’