Ruud van Nistelrooy has spoken about Leicester City’s transfer window for the first time since it closed on Monday.
Before 1 January, Van Nistelrooy identified four key positions he wanted to improve to give the Foxes the best chance of Premier League survival.
It wasn’t to be though as only one player joined Leicester in the transfer window, with Foxes fans left angered by the lack of activity.
There were fears that Van Nistelrooy could quit following a disastrous transfer window for Leicester and ahead of the FA Cup tie against Manchester United on Friday, gave his assessment on how the past month had gone.
Ruud van Nistelrooy on the transfer window
Many were hoping for more than just Woyo Coulibaly to be joining Leicester this month but that wasn’t to be the case.
Centre-backs were targeted and a swap deal involving Craig Dawson and Conor Coady looked possible before it soon fell apart.
The Dutchman had made it clear that he needed players but was forced to face a reality check when the situation changed.
He told Leicestershire Live: “When you strengthen the team, your chances will improve, there’s no doubt about that. But the means were not there to do so. It wasn’t possible.
“It’s not a question of being disappointed. It’s a question of reality and where the club stands. We had to deal with the restrictions. We needed to impact the team with impact players and we weren’t able to get them because of the balance of opportunity and restriction. We tried. The focus was on impact players. With Coulibaly, we did it, but other opportunities weren’t possible.
“The conversations in November were clear. You enter a process together and everything is presented to you. The idea was that there were certain possibilities, but when the numbers came on the table, it turned out to be different and we had to reassess and see what we could do in that framework.”
Ruud van Nistelrooy on how he will cope without transfers
Whilst Leicester could still explore the free agent market for additions if they become really desperate, there will be no more opportunities to strengthen the squad for the remainder of the season.
Starting from now, Leicester will have to use what they’ve got and believes that the return of important players could help turn their fortunes around.
He added: “I’m quite pragmatic. Let’s get on with it. If you can’t get players from the outside, get them from the inside. Young players, Ndidi is back, that’s an addition, Hermansen is back, that’s an addition.”