Renee Slegers says it was ‘a conscious decision’ to expand Arsenal squad this summer

Following Arsenal’s 1-0 pre-season win over Paris FC, Renee Slegers was asked about the summer signing of Selina Cerci, who became the third senior centre-forward in the squad. Slegers answered, ‘We think it is a crucial position, there are a couple of positions in the team we think are crucial where you need to have quality, so if someone is not there due to illness or injury, we need the back up so that is why we chose to have three central forwards in the squad.’

At the back end of last season, Arseblog News had asked Slegers whether she felt the squad was too small in 2025-26. On that occasion, she admitted, ‘Yeah, it has been, I think, in a couple of positions on the pitch. We’ve had phases in the season where we’ve been quite thin.’

With Daphne van Domselaar, Katie Reid and Michelle Agyemang missing the first part of the season, the Gunners have recruited an international goalkeeper, an international centre-half and an international striker. Arseblog News asked Slegers whether there had been a discussion with the recruitment team about making the squad bigger.

‘Definitely, we’ve been clear with that when looking at the squad composition and looking at all what ifs, all scenarios. So this is where we landed. We thought this was best for us, long term as well, because there will be a lot of games.

‘We’re in a fantastic position where nearly everyone is fit at the moment but you know how a season goes. So we really felt we needed it and this was a conscious decision we made. But of course, at the moment with so many available players, it’s also makes my job harder and it’s small margins and that’s something we need to manage really, really well with the squad because it’s new to us, it’s new to the players as well.

‘That’s an important topic, but we think over the season and long term, this was the right decision for us.’ Last weekend at Brighton, Slegers had to leave summer signings Selina Cerci and Geraldine Reuteler out of the match day squad. This weekend, assuming no injuries in training on Saturday, she will have to leave three senior players out of the squad.

Arseblog News asks which factors go into making those decisions, ‘There’s all these thoughts and all these different perspectives and we just have to learn. We discuss things very specifically with the staff as well, going to different scenarios.

‘We look at all levels and what certain decisions, what they mean and why this is a slightly better decision than the other because it really is about margins and it’s really hard to exactly predict what you’re going to need, but we go through different things and then and then look at that.

‘There’s, there’s different things playing in. A lot of my investment, a lot of my energy goes there because it’s of course an important one to get right everything around it. It’s difficult in the moment. But again, playing the long game, over the season we’re going to need everybody and everyone is contributing, even if it’s not always on the pitch on game day.’

Kyra Cooney-Cross gave an interview to the BBC this week and she spoke warmly about the level of support she received from the club during her compassionate leave earlier this year to be with her mother in Australia. Arseblog News asked Slegers about the plan to support Kyra, both emotionally and with her fitness while she was away.

‘We’ve had great discussions with Clare (Wheatley) with Kyra herself, with Kyra’s agent and her closest. We always look at the human first. So what’s important for Kyra in this moment? And we’ve respected that and I’m happy we did.

I’m happy she could spend that time with her mum in Australia. Of course it was difficult; mostly for Kyra. We lost a really good player for the second half of season. That was that was difficult for us, but it’s not comparable to what Kyra has been going through.’

Arsenal play Crystal Palace at Emirates Stadium on Sunday at 2.45pm.

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