Karl Robinson says losing Benik Afobe to Wolves this week was ‘disappointing’ but insists the Dons’ drive to be successful remains undeterred despite his departure.
Afobe, who netted 19 goals for the men from MK1, joined Championship side Wolverhampton Wanderers permanently from Arsenal on Wednesday, thus ending his stay in Milton Keynes after just 30 appearances.
“He goes with our best wishes,” Robinson told Dons Player. “He’s a wonderful boy whp deserves all the luck in the world and we wish him luck. Hopefully he continues his goal scoring streak.
“It was disappointing for us and also for the fans, when they found out. We always seem to lose our key and influential players in this window but that’s because they start the season so well.
“We’re not just a one man side, though. Yes, Benik scored 19 goals for us, which is a tremendous feat from him, but we still believe we’ve got enough within his Football Club, both on and off the pitch, to compete with some of the best teams in the league.
“The players have been very vocal this week about what they want to achieve together and our goalposts haven’t changed regardless of Benik moving on - we feel we’re still in a good place.”
Robinson, though, is still on the hunt to add new faces during the January transfer window but the Dons boss insists he will only recruit a player if he feels they can improve the team.
“We’re working around the clock and there are a number of things that we’ve got our eyes keenly focused on. There has been a lot of time and attention put towards this window and hopefully we can achieve our goals.
“But it’s not fair to the players we’ve got already if we bring in players who are just as good as them, they have to be better than the players we’ve got here in order to improve us as a group.”
He continued: “We had hoped to have a deal done with a player these last few days but unfortunately we’ve lost them to a Championship club – that was a punch in the stomach to us all.
“Hopefully we can do something in forthcoming days but it is a very difficult window to manoeuvre in unless you’re a big club that can go and get other teams’ best players.”
Karl Robinson's Dons are in action this Saturday when they host Sheffield United at stadiummk, where tickets are priced at £20 for adults, £15 for seniors and £6 for under-18s - under-12s go FREE with a Young Dons membership.
To purchase tickets click here, visit the Box Office at stadiummk/the kiosk at thecentre:mk or call 0333 200 5343
“He goes with our best wishes,” Robinson told Dons Player. “He’s a wonderful boy whp deserves all the luck in the world and we wish him luck. Hopefully he continues his goal scoring streak.
“It was disappointing for us and also for the fans, when they found out. We always seem to lose our key and influential players in this window but that’s because they start the season so well.
“We’re not just a one man side, though. Yes, Benik scored 19 goals for us, which is a tremendous feat from him, but we still believe we’ve got enough within his Football Club, both on and off the pitch, to compete with some of the best teams in the league.
“The players have been very vocal this week about what they want to achieve together and our goalposts haven’t changed regardless of Benik moving on - we feel we’re still in a good place.”
Robinson, though, is still on the hunt to add new faces during the January transfer window but the Dons boss insists he will only recruit a player if he feels they can improve the team.
“We’re working around the clock and there are a number of things that we’ve got our eyes keenly focused on. There has been a lot of time and attention put towards this window and hopefully we can achieve our goals.
“But it’s not fair to the players we’ve got already if we bring in players who are just as good as them, they have to be better than the players we’ve got here in order to improve us as a group.”
He continued: “We had hoped to have a deal done with a player these last few days but unfortunately we’ve lost them to a Championship club – that was a punch in the stomach to us all.
“Hopefully we can do something in forthcoming days but it is a very difficult window to manoeuvre in unless you’re a big club that can go and get other teams’ best players.”
Karl Robinson's Dons are in action this Saturday when they host Sheffield United at stadiummk, where tickets are priced at £20 for adults, £15 for seniors and £6 for under-18s - under-12s go FREE with a Young Dons membership.
To purchase tickets click here, visit the Box Office at stadiummk/the kiosk at thecentre:mk or call 0333 200 5343
