Renee Slegers would not confirm that US left-back Jenna Nighswonger will leave the club in January but did hint that the future lies elsewhere for the January signing from Gotham.
Nighswonger joined the club from the NWSL last January but has only played 186 WSL minutes in her 11 months in North London, with only 16 minutes played in one sub appearance so far this campaign. Nighswonger has not played minutes in any UWCL game since joining the club.
Our information is that a January move for the player is likely and when Arseblog News asked manager Renee Slegers about the future of the left-back, she said, ‘We’ll have to look at what’s good for the team and what’s good for Jenna. So I think when we have something to share or communicate, we will, but of course it’s about Jenna and what’s good for her at her stage in her career.’
Arseblog News also asked about the club’s January transfer plans. Slegers has already said the club will try to bring another goalkeeper in with Manu Zinsberger out for the season, while right-back Smilla Holmberg will arrive from Hammarby.
‘We are always looking in here and now and into the future to see how we keep on building and make the squad as strong as possible. I think there will be little movement. It will be around something like you’re mentioning as it stands.
‘We are really happy with the squad where we are at. I think we’ve definitely found some stability and consistency in what we’re doing with the players that we have at the moment. So that’s really positive. So we’re definitely not desperate, we’re really happy with what we’re doing, but like I said, always looking to strengthen when we can.’
We understand that Arsenal were assessing options for midfielders in the summer, with a late summer bid for Geraldine Reuteler turned down by Frankfurt. There are other potential midfield targets who may not be available until the summer but we are not yet totally clear on how likely a third addition is in January, we will try to find out assuming someone else doesn’t beat us to it!