OXFORD United Women manager Liam Gilbert is targeting early transfer business as he gets set to speak to potential new recruits.

Today marks the official end of the 2021/22 FA Women’s National League season and the last day that players are registered with their clubs.

The U’s can begin to approach transfer targets tomorrow, even though the registration period for 2022/23 does not open until July 1.

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Gilbert has already drawn up a list of potential signings and knows the value of getting new faces bedded in before the new campaign.

He said: “Unfortunately, we’re not able to speak to players until June 1 because players’ registrations carry on until then.

“We’ve got a few names that we like the look of and we’ll see how that goes.

“If we want to bring anyone in it’s as early as we can, so they can start to work with the group and catch up to where we’re at.

“The more contact time we get, the closer we’ll be.”

The women’s transfer window in England starts later than the men’s, the latter officially opening on June 10.

It closes a day earlier, on Wednesday, August 31.

Gilbert will hope this summer’s signings have a similar impact to last year’s success stories, most notably Beth Lumsden.

The forward joined United from Championship side Charlton Athletic and topped the goalscoring charts, finding the net well over 20 times.

Centre back stalwart Riva Casley, defender Megan Alexander and forward Sarah King were among the other 2021 recruits.

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They helped the U’s finish second in FA Women’s National League Southern Premier this season as they preserved an unbeaten home record.

It means retention is as important as recruitment for Gilbert, who has already seen two loyal servants hang up their boots.

Cheryl Williams and Gemma Sims retired at the end of the season, having each made more than 50 appearances across three campaigns.

The duo’s exits have further reduced the average age of a young U’s squad and Gilbert is keen to keep the class of 2021/22 together.

“Retention conversations have happened and are really positive,” he said.

“The most important thing for us is to keep as many as we can of the group we’ve got.

“It’s quite a young group, the average age now Chez and Gemma have moved on is 23 or 24.

“We’ve got a very good young squad, so if we can keep the majority of that and add a few bits and pieces it’s only going to make us better.”

Meanwhile, United are expected to announce their new assistant manager in the coming days.

Tom Hartley confirmed his departure at the end of last week following two successful seasons at the club.

The former Arsenal coach helped the U’s reach the Vitality Women’s FA Cup fourth round in his first campaign, before last term’s second-place finish.