Gyokeres’ former team-mate and ex-Arsenal youngster backs striker to shine with the Gunners | OneFootball

Former Arsenal academy graduate Brooke Norton-Cuffy backed his ex-Coventry City teammate Viktor Gyokeres to be a big success at Arsenal ahead of his expected move.

Gyokeres is set to undergo a medical with the Gunners after they agreed a deal to sign the Sweden international from Sporting CP.

After spending time at Brighton and following loan spells at St. Pauli and Swansea City, Gyokeres found his stride at Coventry before joining Portuguese giants Sporting, where he has scored an astonishing 97 goals in 102 games.

Norton-Cuffy, a product of Arsenal’s renowned Hale End academy who played alongside Gyokeres during the second half of the 2022–23 season, sensed early on that the Swedish forward was destined for big things.

“100%. Vik was, for part of that season in the Championship, a joke – assists and goals,” the England U21 international told TalkSport.

“He was so good that there were teams putting two, three players on him and he was still managing to beat them or find a way to score or just create chances out of nothing really.

“Not just skill-wise, his mental side of the game. You can see he’s hungry. If he doesn’t score, he’s not happy. For example, when we played small-sided games, if his team loses you don’t want to go near him for a little bit.

“Just the winning mentality and the hunger to score, to win things – that’s what I really liked from him.”

Gyokeres scored 21 goals and provided 10 assists in the Championship as Coventry reached the play-offs, only to suffer a heart-breaking defeat to Luton Town in a penalty shootout in the final at Wembley Stadium.

Norton-Cuffy, now with Serie A side Genoa, made 24 appearances for the Sky Blues, including in the play-off final.

“Vik’s powerful,” he continued. “He’s 6’3 and he can move, he can change direction quickly, he can run at you, he can beat you.

“Once he creates those chances, normally he puts them away as well. He’s just a real, big handful.

“I think he’ll do really well [at Arsenal] and I hope he does well.”