Former Arsenal star has doubts over Gyokeres | OneFootball

Jermaine Pennant has expressed doubts over Viktor Gyokeres and whether he can translate his form from Portugal to the Premier League.

The striker started Arsenal’s opening match of the Premier League season against Manchester United but was taken off before the 60th minute without making much of an impact.

Speaking to Hayters courtesy of 7bet football betting, Pennant said he was unsure whether Gyokeres would be a success in his first season in England and could even see Kai Havertz becoming the starting striker in a few weeks.

Pennant said: “He’s going to definitely require some adapting. And I’ve been sitting on the fence on this one. Yeah, there’s a player there. And yes, his numbers in the Portuguese league were phenomenal.

“But I’m going to refer back to it so was Darwin Nunez. His numbers were 35 goals in 38 games. But we didn’t see those kind of figures at all in the Premier League. Premier League is a different beast.

“The intensity is a lot higher. The physicality is a lot harder. Better players all round. So it’s going to be difficult. So he will do well. But Arsenal fans shouldn’t expect the numbers that he was putting up at Sporting.”

Pressed on the matter, and asked whether Kai Havertz could actually take over as the starting striker, Pennant said: “I think so. I think you may see Kai come in. I think, look, Arteta is going to give Gyokeres time. He’s going to give him a lot of chances. But if the goals don’t start coming in, you will start seeing Kai Havertz drifting more and more in.

“And maybe at some point replace Gyokeres. Because, I know it was his debut in the Premier League. But Kai Havertz is proven, Gyokeres isn’t.

“I think Arsenal need a striker who’s going to hit the ground running. Not someone who’s going to take maybe six months, a season, then kick in. They need someone now if they want to win the Championship.”

Gyokeres scored 54 goals for Sporting last season and 43 the year before, but his game is based around playing with space to run into in front of him and running the channels. Premier League defences don’t leave as much space in behind as elsewhere in Europe and therefore there may be a period of adaptation.

But the Swede has only played one competitive game and will need some time to bed in and learn to play in the Premier League.