Karl Robinson has had his say over what has been a frustrating transfer window for the Oxford boss.
Despite the arrival of Alex Gorrin, Tariqe Fosu and Chris Cadden, the recruitment from the club hasn’t been as successful as it should have.
The season kicks off at Sunderland in just over one week, and the squad needs another three new faces, including a striker and a centre back, to be ready.
Robinson, who was in Belgium yesterday to check out a target, admitted it was a continuous struggle and told The Oxford Mail: “It does do your head in. There’s no point me coming out and saying everything’s perfect. There’s elements of you that worry and other elements stay calm.
“It depends what day it is. Sometimes I’m quite cool with it and roll with the punches, but there are others where you think ‘come on, give me a bit of luck’. Everybody at the club is working extremely hard, it’s not through a lack of effort from anybody.”
On numerous occasions during the summer, Robinson has highlighted the need for reinforcements and has often identified his targets.
And getting to this stage of pre-season without key targets could affect the U’s start of the campaign, as it did last year.
Robinson added: “If I was a fan I’d be sat there going ‘wow, our core looks good’, but I’d also be saying ‘we also look really weak and flaky in certain areas and we need reinforcements’.”
But the manager isn’t concerned about any new transfers lacking fitness. They would have been involved in pre-season training, maybe even games, but won’t have enough time to bond with the current squad.
One positive to take from the lack of senior signings is that it has given an opportunity to some of the younger members of the squad.
Fabio Lopes, Nico Jones, Kyran Lofthouse and Malachi Napa have all been regulars over the past month, and after Shandon Baptiste staked a claim for first-team football last season following a string of good performances, it could spur these youngsters to follow suit.
Robinson added: “It’s frustrating we’re not getting players in, but the beauty about that is our young players’ development has been accelerated.
“Some of them have probably had the best pre-season they could have wished to have because they’ve been pushed forward.”
The U’s have had a difficult summer. The three players Robinson has signed all look extremely promising, but a striker and centre back are two key areas that must be addressed before the start of the season.
