The Gunners have agreed personal terms on a five-year contract with the 27-year-old and are thrashing out a fee with the Portuguese champions, who value the Swede at around £68m.
However, recruiting a No 9 was comfortably the most pressing issue facing Arsenal this summer following three consecutive second-place finishes in the Premier League.
Can he turn the nearly men into winners?
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While stylistically similar – tall, strong, agile, prolific – they are at different career stages: Gyokeres is hitting his peak years while Sesko’s are still ahead of him. Arsenal had to weigh up whether to invest in the here and now or for the future.
Having finished five and two points behind Manchester City in 2022-23 and 2023-24, and reached the Champions League semi-final last season, Arsenal have been close to winning the biggest prizes.
An ideal fit for Arteta’s Arsenal?
Gyokeres has been a tour de force in Portugal since a £20m move from Coventry City in 2023, scoring 97 goals in 102 games. He fired Sporting to their first back-to-back league titles since the 1950s with 68 goals in 66 matches.
Beyond the impressive strike rate, Gyokeres’ muscularity could be a good fit in a team that has become noticeably more powerful under Arteta.
Gyokeres has the physical traits to adapt to the Premier League (Photo: Getty)
At 6ft 2ins, he will blend naturally into Arteta’s team of giants, although surprisingly he isn’t a major aerial threat: only two of his 68 league goals were headers. Set-piece coach Nicolas Jover may have to do some work with him.
Gyokeres is a willing runner too, shuttling across the backline and barrelling in behind to give his teammates passing options. Gyokeres’ tendency to drift out to the left could add an element of unpredictability to Arsenal’s attack, which has become too reliant on goals and chance creation from the right flank.
Despite his physical attributes, Gyokeres didn’t initially thrive in England at Brighton or Swansea; however, he exploded at Coventry with 38 goals in his final two Championship seasons.
Beware the Portuguese tax?
The big question, as it always is with strikers bought from overseas, is whether he can transfer his Sporting form over to Arsenal, given the disparity in quality between the competitions.
Additionally, 11 of the 18 teams in the division rank outside the top 300 clubs. Farense, against whom Gyokeres scored nine goals in four games, are ranked 897th in the world, in between Vegalta Sendai of Japan’s second division and Peru’s Cienciano.
The Uruguayan scored 34 goals in 41 games in his final season for Benfica, but has managed 40 in 143 in three subsequent seasons on Merseyside.
Fabio Silva managed five in 73 games for Wolves (albeit after being bought as an 18-year-old) after becoming their £35m record signing. Islam Slimani struggled after a £28m move to Leicester and was loaned out three times before leaving for free six months before his contract was up. Who remembers Helder Postiga?
The Premier League’s 10 most expensive signings from Portugal
Enzo Fernandez (£106.8m to Chelsea from Benfica) HIT Darwin Nunez (£85m to Liverpool from Benfica) MISS Bruno Fernandes (£67.6m to Man Utd from Sporting Lisbon) HIT Ruben Dias (£65m to Man City from Benfica) HIT Luis Diaz (£50m from Porto) HIT Nico Gonzalez (£50m to Man City from Porto) MISS Geovany Quenda (£44m to Chelsea from Sporting Lisbon) TBC Eliaquim Mangala (£42m to Man City from Porto) MISS Pedro Porro (£40m to Spurs from Sporting Lisbon) HIT Evanilson (£40m to Bournemouth from Porto) HITGoncalo Ramos is an impact sub rather than a starter for Paris Saint-Germain. Jackson Martinez never lived up to his Primeira Liga pomp elsewhere.
Although they aren’t strikers, Bruno Fernandes and Luis Diaz have scored plenty in England and Cristiano Ronaldo did pretty well for himself after joining United from Sporting as an 18 year old in 2003.
Arsenal will hope that Gyokeres can be another success story, rather than an expensive mistake.
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