Viktor Gyokeres arrived in North London with high expectations.
His 54 goals in 52 games for Sporting Lisbon made a move to an elite side inevitable.
Arsenal spent $72 million on the Swedish striker, believing he was the perfect fit.
During the club’s three consecutive runners-up finishes, many wondered if a top striker would have pushed the Gunners over the line.
Gabriel Jesus, Arsenal’s number nine for those campaigns, showed Premier League quality but had a poor injury record.
It’s no surprise Mikel Arteta praised Gyokeres and his fit in the team.
“He is a quick and powerful presence up front, with incredible goalscoring numbers at club and international levels,” he said.
“He brings a clinical edge with a high conversion rate of chances into goals, with his intelligent movement in the box making him a constant threat.”
Club captain Martin Ødegaard was equally effusive.
He added, “I think you’ve all seen what he’s done in his career so far. Especially the last season at Sporting, the numbers speak for themselves. He’s a very complete player. He’s physical, strong, fast, good finisher, and intelligent as well.”
But things didn’t go to plan. By midway through the Premier League season, Gyokeres had only five goals, most coming in the first four weeks.
Clearly, the standard of competition he was joining was higher than the Portuguese League, where he’d set fire to records. But doubts were beginning to be raised about whether he met the required standard.
Jamie Carragher compared Gyokeres to Gabriel Jesus: “He’s a better player than Gyokeres – that’s a fact.”
“There’s been questions in the past asking if [Jesus] is good enough for Arsenal to go and win the league.
“But right now, he’s better than the guy they brought in who they thought was going to win them the league. Havertz or him as the central striker is a better player than Gyokeres.
“He lacks finesse and quality when you think of what they’ve got on the bench. I think Arsenal need to improve on Gyokeres and they’ve got players that can in Jesus.”
Gyokeres’s path to Premier League elite wasn’t straightforward.
Brighton signed Gyokeres in 2018, but he never played in the Premier League, spending time on loan at Swansea City and Coventry City in the Championship.
Brighton let him go, and he joined Coventry.
He scored well for Coventry, helping them reach the Play-Off final, where they narrowly lost to Luton Town on penalties.
Sporting took a chance on him, and he rewarded them with more than a goal a game.
You couldn’t help but wonder if during his barren run, where his confidence was shot, some ghosts from the past had come to haunt him. It would be understandable for a man who was doubted and deemed not good enough by a Premier League team in the past might fear there was something in the critique.
Since the turn of the year, Gyokeres has doubled his season tally in less than a month, highlighted by a brace in the North London Derby against Tottenham Hotspur.
Manager Mikel Arteta now seems confident the Swedish forward has found his rhythm.
“I think one thing leads to another,” said Arteta.
“When you score the first one or the performances are good, you have more time with your team-mates, you understand the games, the opponent, the league better. Everything helps.
The Arsenal boss was, to no one’s surprise, asked whether Gyokeres had been struggling with confidence, to which he replied: “That’s a question for him. Obviously I know the demands he puts on himself, the expectation that he has to help the team and I am confident because a lot of the times, our defenders, when they have to train against our players, [you ask], ‘How do you feel when [you face him]?’ and [they say], ‘It’s a nightmare’.
“That’s a really good way to understand the quality of a player or how it is to defend him.”
Ultimately, Arsenal’s expectations for Gyokeres may have been unrealistic. The key argument is that he doesn’t have to be world-class for Arsenal to succeed; delivering steady, reliable performances is more important to help the team achieve its goals.
Having Gyokeres bang in a goal a game would surely have the Gunners clear at the top of the table, but the reality is that few players are capable of delivering such results.
Gyokeres’s current scoring rate is more than enough to keep Arsenal’s title hopes alive. To play his part in delivering the Premier League crown, he doesn’t need to be a superstar or outshine Gabriel Jesus—he just needs to consistently perform when it matters.
