Although there is no Premier League football for another month, there are still plenty of talking points when it comes to England’s top flight. With the transfer window now open and well underway, plenty of sides are making high level acquisitions, and Arsenal are no exception.
We have seen Liverpool sign Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez, whilst Manchester City have signed Rayan Aït-Nouri and Rayan Cherki. Elsewhere, Chelsea have secured the signings of Jamie Gittens, Liam Delap and Joao Pedro, whilst plenty of other clubs are also looking to get their business done early.
One of those clubs are Arsenal – Mikel Arteta’s side have already announced the incomings of Kepa and Martin Zubimendi, with Christian Norgaard and Cristhian Mosquera also said to be close to being confirmed.
Another player said to be close to signing – as per multiple high level sources such as David Ornstein – is the highly sought after Viktor Gyökeres of Sporting CP. Ornstein has reported that personal terms have been agreed with the player, and that talks are “advancing” between the two clubs for a fee.
In recent months, some of the most repetitive football discourse has been how Arsenal need a striker, with a number nine seen as the missing piece to take them from a “nearly side” to one that wins silverware.
So, let’s take a look and evaluate whether or not Gyökeres is indeed the final piece of the jigsaw for Arsenal, and how he compares to the forwards currently at the club.
Since joining from Chelsea in the summer of 2023, Kai Havertz has had some good performances – particularly in the second half of the 23/24 season. However, he missed the last few months of last season with injury, and has proven to be an inconsistent goalscorer over his career.
Elsewhere, Gabriel Jesus is once again injured himself, and has shown over the years that he cannot be relied upon – both on the injury front and when it comes to his finishing abilities. Therefore, Arsenal have decided that they simply need reinforcements at the top end of the pitch.
At face value, Gyökeres seems like a low risk signing. The recently turned 27-year old scored 39 league goals for Sporting in the league alone last season, as he fired them to a second consecutive league title since he joined from Coventry City in 2023.
urthermore, he scored six goals in just 606 minutes in the Champions League, including a hat-trick against Manchester City back in November. These numbers seem pretty undeniable on the face of it (all data via SofaScore).
However, it is worth adding context. Twelve of his 39 league strikes came from the penalty spot. His 27 non penalty goals came every 103 minutes, whilst Darwin Nunez – a consensus flop at Liverpool – scored 22 at a rate of one every 90 minutes for Benfica in the 21/22 season.
Also, there is simply a big disparity between the two leagues. Whilst Liga Portugal should be respected, it feels unlikely that he would replicate those numbers in England. Sure, if he even replicates 75% of those numbers – he will have done pretty well.
You may look to his Champions League record as a way of showing he can make the step up – but even the aforementioned hat-trick against City included two penalties. So it still feels like a hard one to call in that regard.
Still, it is worth being balanced and adding some positives. Although his numbers are inflated by penalties – that should not be much of an issue at Arsenal. There is no reason he wouldn’t be their designated penalty taker.
Both Martin Ødegaard and Bukayo Saka have proven to be inconsistent takers. Gyökeres’ 14 penalties in the league and Europe last season came with a 100% conversion rate – something that will benefit Arsenal.
Something else to be positive about is how the striker has experience playing in England – with Swansea City and Coventry in the Championship, and even with Brighton and Hove Albion in the domestic cups. Gyökeres is a physical and robust player that should have no issues with the physicality of the Premier League – something that has swallowed up talented players in the past.
Finally, there is just simply not much out there when it comes to the striker market. Benjamin Šeško would have cost an awful lot of money for a very raw player. Looking at players closer to their prime – Victor Osimhen is the name that stands out most, but feels like an option that is not financially viable. That more or less leaves the Swedish talisman as the best option out there.
The overall verdict is that Arsenal fans should probably have cautious optimism when it comes to the pending signing of Gyökeres. He is not a guaranteed hit, but as mentioned above, the market is scarce and he provides the best value for money of strikers available.
