Town boss Kieran McKenna is standing firm on his confidence in the team’s striking options, even as deadline day passed without the addition of another forward.
Despite the club’s efforts to secure a new striker, including a revived bid for Chelsea’s Armando Broja—who ultimately signed with Everton—and a failed late deal for Arsenal’s Reiss Nelson, McKenna remains unfazed.
When questioned about the lack of a 13th senior signing, McKenna dismissed concerns, asserting, “Disappointment isn’t the word here. We’ve already added 12 players, counting Omari who was with us last year. We’ve hit our target for new arrivals, and it’s in line with what we planned for this window.”
His comments reflect a clear stance that the squad is sufficiently reinforced, despite the missed opportunities. McKenna’s stance may raise eyebrows, particularly given the high-profile pursuits that fell through.
His statement indicates a measured belief in the current players’ capacity to perform well, rejecting the idea that additional reinforcements are necessary at this point:
“We end up with a squad of maybe 24 outfielders, about half of them have been with us on the journey, half of them are new. It’s a pretty good balance that we’re happy with.
“We’ve brought in some really good players to the football club, we’ve stuck to the plan, we’ve invested our bigger fees in young players with potential to grow and improve but who have good physical and technical qualities, and you can see some of them how they’re performing already out there.
“We’ve brought in some good, experienced professionals, who have worked really hard to get to the Premier League, who are starving hungry to make their impact and we’ve brought in some loans, who have high calibre and we think can help us.
“I don’t think we can come away from the window disappointed. Of course, you always want the squad to be as good as it can be. We’ve had two seasons in a row now of being a newly promoted team and you don’t get every target that you want, that’s the reality.
“We know in the pool that we’re swimming in in the Premier League, we’re not going to get every target or every player that we’re interested in, but that’s happened over the last two summers as well.
“I’m really happy that we’ve worked really hard, the club have invested to bring in players who will help us. We’ve been really stringent in terms of trying to stick to our plan, trying to bring in good characters, being really stringent on that as well, bringing people who will fit the ethos of what we have.
“And I think we’re left with a group that are desperate to do well for themselves in the Premier League and desperate to do well for the football club and all want to be here.
“I think that’s a pretty positive place to be and I’m looking forward to working with this group now for the next four months until the [January] window and the next 10 months or whatever it is of the season, and I’m sure they’re going to do some good things in the division.”
Asked whether Liam Delap’s performance and first goal for the club makes him more confident that the 22-year-old has what it takes and that he has enough firepower in his squad, McKenna said: “I never lacked confidence in Liam, I have to say, and that’s why we’ve invested so much in him.
“People probably felt it was a big fee at the time, whatever we’ve paid for him, but I think he’s showing that he’s got great potential.
“We’ve got real faith in Liam and we’re really enjoying working with him and I feel that he can, and already is, impacting things at Premier League level.
“But we want to be as deep and as strong in every position as we can and we know that we’re in a position where, hopefully, George Hirst will get back fit fairly soon and we’re going to have three strikers, which is what we wanted.
“Those three strikers are all going to be young, all playing Premier League football for the first time and are all going to be learning and gaining from the experience all the time.
“That’s where we are. We would have liked to have added to that depth if possible but it wasn’t the right thing for the club, or there wasn’t the right opportunity for the club to do so, so we’re really happy with the three boys that we have.
“Of course, we hope to get them all back fit and then we’ve got three, young, hungry strikers with good physical attributes, who are desperate to do well for themselves and for the club, and that’s a pretty good place to be.”
