‘Monster’ Gyokeres ‘one of the most professional trainers I’ve ever seen’ says Arsenal defender Ben White | OneFootball

Arsenal defender Ben White is backing summer signing Viktor Gyokeres to help fire the Gunners to glory this season.

Gyokeres joined Arsenal this summer in a £63.5m deal and has netted two goals in his first three Premier League games for the club.

White played with the Sweden international during their time at Brighton and says he was always confident Gyokeres would achieve big things.

“Yeah, I know Viktor really well,” White told Arsenal.com.

“We played together at Brighton for a long time, maybe three or four years, and I could tell even then that he was always destined for greatness. From the moment he came to Brighton, he was brought into the under-21s group and you could see he had something special about him at that age.

“It was always me and him going up from the youth team to go and train with the first team all the time, so we spent a lot of time together.

“We never really broke into the first team consistently there, but we were always on the edges of it when we were young.

“It’s funny how things happen because we both went out on loan at different places, and now of course we’ve ended up at the same place after taking very different paths.

“I spoke to him a little bit before he signed, but there was a lot going on so I didn’t want to bother him. All I said to him was that he would love it here, but I think he knew that already.”

White also says Gyokeres’ mentality has allowed him to become a top striker, and believes his experience of already playing in England has helped him settle in.

“He’s a monster!” he said. “He lives for goals doesn’t he? He’s a constant threat. You really don’t want to get in his way when you are playing against him, because he’ll just move you out of the way anyway.

“He’s such a big presence and I think it will be a massive help that he’s already played in English football.

“You see a lot of people come to the Premier League and they’ve had no taste of what it’s like and it can be a struggle.

“But for Viktor, he’s well used to it. He played at Coventry, and I played loads of games with him at Brighton. So he’s seen it, he knows what it’s going to be like and what to expect from the defenders.

“I can’t say a bad word about him to be honest. He’s one of the most professional trainers I’ve ever seen, he’s right up there with Martin Odegaard in that respect.

“It’s great that we have these players coming in, because all this competition for places makes people lift their standards and it makes everyone better. “