Mikel Arteta has admitted his disappointment at Arsenal's failure to sign a striker in the January transfer window but believes the club need to stay "very disciplined" to remain on track.
The Gunners had an offer in the region of £40 million ($50m) for Ollie Watkins rejected by Aston Villa last week and despite Arteta publicly declaring their need for attacking reinforcements following injuries to Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Jesus, the club was unable to bring anyone in.
Arteta said: "We had a clear intention which is obvious. There is a window open to explore the possibilities to improve our squad with players that can impact it. We haven't achieved it.
"So we are disappointed in that sense but as well we are very aware that we only want to bring certain kind of players. We have to be very disciplined with that as well and I think we were.
"I wouldn't like to go into too much detail. We couldn't do it for certain reasons and we have to accept it, that's it. It was a combination of things."
Pushed to explain how that show of discipline could impact Arsenal's summer plans -- when longer-term targets including Red Bull Leipzig's Benjamin Sesko and Newcastle's Alexander Isak could be available -- Arteta replied: "What I mean about that is in everything, in the kind of profile, in the kind of player that we believe can really make us much better.
"Financially. In a lot of ways, there are a lot of things that we must stay in the lane that has taken us this far and from there, try to improve."
Arteta suggested last week that Arsenal's decision not to sign a striker last summer left them "short" in terms of numbers and when asked how much of a gamble it was in that context not to add to his squad mid-season, the Spaniard said: "It is not a gamble, it is reality. We have to face the reality as well that we have. We have the players that we have.
"Some of them are on loan. We have never had a squad of 35, 40, 45 players. So many other clubs they have 45 players on the list. We don't have that size at the moment. It is our reality.
"We have had to do so much in the last few years that's where we are so we will have to evolve there as well and have more, more players from the academy and the ones that are here to be fitter for longer. That is a job that is permanent and it keeps evolving. We need to be on our toes."
Arsenal travel to Newcastle on Wednesday for their Carabao Cup semifinal, second-leg clash aiming to overturn a 2-0 deficit from the first leg.