Jonas Eidevall reacts to Arsenal's failure to sign a striker in January

Jonas Eidevall has admitted his disappointment in Arsenal's failure to sign a striker in January, but conceded it was a difficult window to do business in.

The Gunners boss was honest from the start of the transfer window about his desire to recruit a 'prolific goal scorer' following the long-term injuries to forwards Vivianne Miedema and Beth Mead and was still openly hopeful right until the deadline.

Arsenal's striker search saw world record bids for Manchester United's Alessia Russo turned down during the final days of the window. Eidevall admitted that the club's hunt for a new forward in January was a global one, with the Gunners also linked with approaches for Brazilian forward Debinha, who moved within the NWSL to Kansas City Current, and Lyon's Signe Bruun.

"I think I was clear in the window that we needed another forward and we identified targets," Eidevall said on Friday. "I know the club worked very hard but it is a very difficult transfer window - not to find players to want to play for Arsenal, there is plenty of high quality - but to find clubs that are wanting to sell quality players in this window.

"That was very tricky and we were not successful. Of course we're disappointed with that but now we have to look forward and make the best of the situation."

Gio Queiroz was recalled from her loan spell at Everton, leaving the 19-year-old Brazilian international and Stina Blackstenius as the club's only recognised central strikers in the first-team squad. Eidevall admitted a concern at squad depth, but not in squad quality.

"I still have a squad with a lot of qualities that I believe a lot in," the Arsenal boss added. "We're short in numbers, we know that, that could be a potential problem but we have to work together and do it as good as possible to reach our goals.

"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 hard time trying to find a replacement so that proved tricky. We knew it was going to be hard, but it was even harder than we thought."

It marks the second successive window where Eidevall has admitted Arsenal have not quite fulfilled all of their ambitions in the transfer market, having conceded after the summer 2022 window that he would have liked to have signed one more player.

"I think recruitment is key if you're going to be a successful team," the Gunners boss said. "Last summer I think we got one player too little, and we did that again here in January so obviously here are things we need to look at in order to be better. Because over time these things really have a big impact in the way we perform and the ambitions that we have so that's very important for us."