Is Viktor Gyokeres the man who can win the title for Arsenal? | OneFootball

Gyokeres arrives as one of Europe’s most feared marksmen and someone Arsenal hope is the final piece of the puzzle

It is a short walk from Holloway Road station to Emirates Stadium, but on Wednesday evening it was clear who Arsenal fans had come to see.

Following 18 months crying out for a striker, Arsenal finally have their man after paying Sporting £64 million.

The question now is whether Gyokeres can be the final piece in Arsenal’s jigsaw, after three consecutive seasons of finishing runners-up in the Premier League.

Gyokeres made his first appearance at Emirates Stadium as Arsenal lost 3-2 to Villarreal on Wednesday

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It has been 21 years since Arsenal were last crowned champions. The challenge for Gyokeres is to score the goals that end that long wait.

The competition will be fierce. Liverpool have strengthened again, signing Florian Wirtz for more than £100million and with ambitions of bringing Newcastle’s Alexander Isak to the party as well. Chelsea and Manchester City have spent big, too.

Gyokeres was given a huge cheer as his name was read out before Wednesday’s friendly against Villarreal, but it was a quiet start.

He fed off scraps in a 3-2 defeat, and the early signs suggested a period of adaptation lies ahead.

That cannot last long. Arsenal begin their campaign away at Manchester United next week - and need their new striker firing quickly.

Bruising beginning

Gyokeres has established himself as one of the most lethal marksmen in Europe after scoring 97 goals in 102 games for Sporting, but as a youngster there is little record of his success.

That is because youth football in Sweden is different from many other countries, and there are no league tables until players are older. Even so, those at Gyokeres’ first club, IFK Aspudden-Tellus, are in little doubt about who was the top scorer in those early days. His talent was obvious.

“We don’t count until the age of 14, but it was clear he scored the most,” Bjorn Thuresson, president of IFK Aspudden-Tellus, tells Standard Sport.

“I can be quite sure that he kept his own score - that we can be certain of. He always wanted to go straight to the goal. He was all about finding the quickest way to score and finish, regardless of where he was on the pitch.”

Gyokeres joined Arsenal for £64m from Sporting

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Gyokeres will be gracing the pristine pitch at Emirates Stadium this season, but his first steps in the game at Aspudden-Tellus were on gravel.

Aspudden-Tellus, like many clubs in Stockholm, used to have a gravel pitch, as grass could not cope with the wear and tear of so many teams using it - and it kept costs down.

In Stockholm alone, there are around 170 clubs for young players to choose from and, until the introduction of artificial turf, many clubs used gravel.

“You had to stand on your feet - otherwise, you would get bruised all over,” says Thuresson. “There were things that as a young player you had to adapt to.”

Gyokeres’ tough start stood him in good stead, and it was his dad, Stefan, who chose Aspudden-Tellus as his first club. He would later go on to be his coach too, with the club run by parents volunteering to take sessions.

Being coached by his father, many would assume that it was Stefan driving Gyokeres to become a footballer - but it was, in fact, the opposite.

“He was super dedicated and super focused - and he never talked about anything but football,” says Thuresson.

“You used to have people saying: ‘Haven’t you had a proper teenage conversation with him?’ And the answer was: ‘No, we just talked about football.’ If we talk about these ‘tennis dads’ that push their kids, I think it was the other way round with Viktor.

“He was noticeable. Other coaches, for other groups, would say: ‘Have you seen that kid? He is damn fast and he scores a lot.’ That was obvious at an early age, because he was a little bit stronger and faster than many of his friends. He still has a lot of that in the way he plays today.”

‘A man in a hurry’

After a bright start to his youth career, Gyokeres’ road to the top has been a long and difficult one.

A move to Brighton in 2018 proved unsuccessful, with Gyokeres sent on loan three times before eventually joining Coventry on a permanent deal.

Gyokeres struggled during an unsuccessful spell at Brighton

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The striker’s stint there is viewed as a turning point, and coaches at the club have remarked how he was “in a hurry” to kickstart his career.

Gyokeres went on to score 40 goals in his two full seasons with Coventry, earning a move to Sporting in 2023 - where his career really took off.

“From our point of view here in Portugal, we understand why Arsenal want Gyokeres,” David Novo, executive editor at Portuguese newspaper Record, tells Standard Sport.

“Arsenal don’t have a striker like Gyokeres with the way he plays. He is really good at exploring spaces behind the defence, he pressurises defenders. He is powerful and fast with the ball, scores a lot of goals, and I think that is the part that is missing at Arsenal.”

Gyokeres’ numbers from his time in Portugal make for remarkable reading.

Last season, he averaged more than one goal per game, finding the net 54 times in 52 appearances. His 39 league goals were more than any player managed in Europe’s top 10 leagues.

Gyokeres scored 54 times in 52 games last season

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The question is, can the 27-year-old replicate that form in the Premier League?

Analysis released by data giants Opta last month stated how 11 of the Portuguese top-flight’s 18 teams were roughly equivalent in standard to League One level, raising questions about the level of opposition Gyokeres has faced over the past two years.

History has shown us how players can struggle to make the step up from Portugal to the Premier League.

Darwin Nunez, for example, scored 26 league goals for Benfica in the 2021-22 season before joining Liverpool that summer. He has since gone on to find the net 25 times in 95 Premier League games during three inconsistent years on Merseyside.

Gyokeres, however, believes he can buck the trend and, in a statement of intent, has chosen to wear the No14 shirt, made famous by Arsenal’s record goalscorer, Thierry Henry.

The Swede has also spoken about how he is out for “revenge” after failing to make a single Premier League appearance during his three years with Brighton.

“He is ready,” says Novo. “The way he performed over here in the last two seasons, it was amazing. I know the Premier League is stronger, he will face better defenders than here in Portugal, but he showed in the Champions League last season that he can perform. I think Gyokeres has that desire, almost an obsession, to show he is ready for the Premier League.”

The pressure is on Gyokeres to deliver and help Arsenal win their first major trophy since 2020, when they lifted the FA Cup.

The Gunners have tried to sign a striker in the previous two transfer windows and, internally, there is excitement about what Gyokeres can bring.

The club view him as a complete No9, blending physicality, technical skill and tactical intelligence.

All the right ingredients

At 27, he is a signing for the here and now, with Mikel Arteta and Arsenal’s owners determined to secure silverware this season.

A key factor in Arsenal moving for Gyokeres was his prowess in front of goal and ability to finish with both feet.

He was also singled out for his skill at carrying the ball - something that stems partly from the early days of the Swede’s career.

Gyokeres faced Arsenal in the Champions League last season

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Gyokeres spent time playing as a winger at Aspudden-Tellus, and it was not until joining IF Brommapojkarna as a 16-year-old that he was fully converted into a striker.

Gyokeres still has a tendency to drift wide, and it is hoped that could help strengthen Arsenal’s left flank, which has struggled in comparison to the right.

Only two players in Portugal’s top flight attempted more dribbles than Gyokeres last season, and that helped the Swede finish second for chances created from open play.

The arrival of Gyokeres could also lead to a shift in style from Arsenal, who have been noticeably more direct with their passing in pre-season.

That approach would suit Gyokeres, who thrives on running in behind, and another of the characteristics Arsenal like about the striker is his movement off the ball.

Gyokeres is also, crucially, a hard worker, and his willingness to press defenders from the front is in keeping with the rest of Arsenal’s frontline.

Gyokeres could have a big role if Arsenal are to end their wait for the title

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He has had to be patient this summer, waiting while the Gunners and Sporting haggled over a fee. Gyokeres’ camp believed they had a gentleman’s agreement allowing him to leave for £59 million - a claim Sporting dispute.

The departure of sporting director Hugo Viana, now at Manchester City, complicated matters.

“If Hugo Viana were still at Sporting, the deal would have been done in an hour,” Jonathan Chalkias, one of Gyokeres’ agents, recently told Swedish TV.

In the end, a deal took months, with Gyokeres’ camp making financial “sacrifices” to get the move over the line.

“I just felt that it was the right club for me,” says Gyokeres. “I started here [in England], it feels like a long time ago. I think I’ve improved a lot since then. Now I want to prove myself for real and perform together with the team. I can’t wait.”