Could Arsenal’s lack of faith in Gyokeres cost them the title? – Opinion

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·29 September 2026

Could Arsenal’s lack of faith in Gyokeres cost them the title? – Opinion

The Gyokeres Gamble

For better or worse, Mikel Arteta has been made to think it’s normal practice to wash his hands of talent the moment he feels an individual no longer matches his ethos.

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Instead of getting the best out of the resources he had and teaching them to be better in training, the whole point of coaching staff, players’ contracts were allowed to expire, they were loaned out until they did, or they were paid to have their deals ripped up.

Ozil, Aubameyang, Pepe, Bellerin, Kolasinac, Mustafi, Lacazette, Maitland-Niles, Reiss Nelson and Willian all left Arsenal without a transfer fee.

The law of averages says that if you make a habit of giving up on your players so quickly, it will occasionally backfire.

While our manager will never say this in public, he clearly lost faith in Viktor Gyokeres after just one season in North London, despite 21 goals.

Which seems harsh considering the lengths the forward went to force a move out of Portugal. If he had known this would be his treatment a year later, he might have stayed where he was loved at Sporting Lisbon.

Did Arsenal show their hand too early with Gyokeres?

The Spaniard won’t be admitting this in upcoming press conferences, but clearly the plan was not to play the striker until the transfer window closed, not risking injury to an asset just in case he needed to be sold to raise funds.

Clearly, that was the Gunners’ preference, but it would have been smart to keep their cards closer to their chest just in case they were left with the attacking options they had.

That’s what makes our recruitment policy this summer so confusing.

Andrea Berta knew it wasn’t guaranteed that Vinicius Jr. or Alvarez would want to leave Spain, so it was a gamble to be so transparent regarding how little Gyokeres is rated at the Emirates.

A gamble you didn’t need to take at all.

The Swede still could have been coming off the bench, unaware of what was happening behind the scenes.

He didn’t need to know that if his employers had their way, he would be elsewhere by now.

Did no one point out Havertz’s injury record, meaning it was likely they would be relying on the Swedish international to lead the line?

Not many will be shocked that a couple of months into a new campaign, the German is already on the sidelines, resulting in the champions’ offensive weapons – already weaker than 12 months ago – being led by a man who knows his own boss has little confidence in him.

(Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

Could Arsenal’s gamble come back to haunt them?

There’s little evidence in the last week that the Gunner’s mojo has been impacted, scoring in both of Sweden’s Nations League fixtures so far.

In fact, the last international break that put the Premiership on hold, scoring the goals that took his country to a World Cup seemed to be a turning point for the forward.

On his return to England, his hold-up play and pressing drastically improved as he defended superbly from the front.

When the man speaks, he doesn’t talk like someone who feels the need to prove a point to anyone.

You’re talking about a title winner three years in a row, so he’s not short of self-belief.

In sport, though, the difference between success and failure can be the smallest detail.

The treatment of Gyokeres could cost us our championship.

Dan Smith

Do you think Arsenal took an unnecessary gamble with Viktor Gyokeres this summer, or was Arteta right to look for a different option up front? Let us know in the comments. _____________________________________________________________________________________________ ADMIN COMMENT

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