Rooney picks out Arsenal star as ‘signing of the season’; hails Arteta playing style | OneFootball

Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney has picked out one Arsenal player as the “signing of the season” after the Gunners won the Premier League title.

Arsenal were crowned Premier League champions in midweek as Manchester City failed to get the win they needed against Bournemouth to take the title race to the final game of the season.

And the Gunners wrapped up their league campaign by beating Crystal Palace 2-1 on Sunday and lifted the Premier League trophy on the Selhurst Park pitch.

Arsenal spent over £250m on new signings in the summer with Mikel Arteta given the added depth he needed to compete on multiple fronts this season.

Viktor Gyokeres was one of their biggest deals of the summer transfer window and Rooney reckons the Swede, who has come in for lots of criticism this season, is the “signing of the season”.

When asked to name his Premier League “signing of the season, Rooney replied on his BBC Sport podcast: “I think Viktor Gyokeres.

“Granit Xhaka has been brilliant for Sunderland but look at what Gyokeres has brought to Arsenal, it’s exactly what they’ve needed.

“Finishing second over the last three years, I think he’s given Arsenal something a bit different and that’s been a big factor in them winning the Premier League.”

Arsenal have been criticised for their style of play on the way to winning the Premier League this season with the Gunners scoring a lot of goals from set-pieces.

However, Rooney says he has “really liked” how Arsenal have played this season and insists the Gunners have “full deserved” their Premier League title.

Adding on Arsenal’s season in general, Rooney said: “Champions are champions. I have actually really liked how they’ve played this season.

“Everyone now wants to play like how Pep Guardiola’s teams play but Mikel Arteta has tried that for the last three years and he hasn’t won the league.

“He’s changed the recruitment. They’ve gone more to a bigger, more physical team, and they don’t concede goals.

“They’re solid, they have players scoring goals from all over the pitch, and they fully deserve to win the Premier League.”

When asked if there were moments that had him believe Arsenal would win the title, Gunners boss Arteta told reporters: “The very first one probably came when we all came together in pre-season, the week before we played Manchester United.

“I got all the players together and asked them what they were happy to do for the team. They were happy to do anything for the team and I knew we had a big chance to compete in every competition because we had the depth and the quality to challenge.

“Their response was immediate and incredible and they weren’t just words – it’s easy to say it in a meeting, but then you need to produce it throughout a ten-month season.

“The boys deserve so much credit because they’ve done it in an incredible way.

“The second moment is when we lost at Manchester City. That day I thought, ‘we are going to win it’. I looked at the players in the dressing room and I wanted to see their reactions before I said anything.

“And I could tell they were very hurt but they realised we can beat them and we can be better than them.

“It was in our hands and we had to do what we had to do, after that we focused on what we needed to become champions and the response was immediate.