Why Arsenal fans should be wary of Viktor Gyokeres ...Middle East

Arsenal’s search for a new striker could finally be at an end with a move progressing for Sporting Lisbon’s Viktor Gyokeres.

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.

It has been a busy summer for Arsenal, who have already bought goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga from Chelsea and midfielder Martin Zubimendi from Real Sociedad and agreed a deal for Brentford captain Christian Norgaard.

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.

Getting Gyokeres over the line will be a relief to head coach Mikel Arteta, sporting director Andrea Berta and Arsenal supporters.

Can he turn the nearly men into winners?

Arsenal’s top two striker targets this summer were Gyokeres and Benjamin Sesko, the 22-year-old Slovenian wonderkid making waves at RB Leipzig.

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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.

In pursuing Gyokeres, Arsenal have opted for the more experienced option, in keeping with their transfer window so far: Zubimendi is 26, Kepa is 30 and Norgaard is 31.

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.

Prioritising players in their mid-20s and early 30s is an admission that they need to take the next step in 2025-26.

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.

He is a precise and well-rounded finisher, particularly adept at finding the bottom corners, and revels in scoring scrappy poachers’ goals. Of his 39 league goals in 2024-25, five were in the six-yard box and 36 from inside the penalty area. A quarter (17) of his league goals across both campaigns were penalties.

Beyond the impressive strike rate, Gyokeres’ muscularity could be a good fit in a team that has become noticeably more powerful under Arteta.

The man with the Hannibal Lecter celebration has more of a Hollywood build than a professional footballer’s, as evidenced by his shirtless celebration in May’s title-clincher against Vitoria Guimaraes.

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.

He is, though, an exceptionally powerful runner who eats up yards and can create space for himself inside the box through sheer force over subtlety.

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.

One former youth coach told The i Paper that Gyokeres lacked the technical skill of some of his teammates, but was “very direct”, while another, who discovered him at 12-years-old, remarked he was always “fast and strong”.

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.

That experience of the English game, albeit at a level below the Premier League, should also aid his transition to Arsenal.

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.

According to Opta’s Power Rankings, the Portuguese Primeira Liga is the eighth-best domestic league worldwide, below the English Championship in sixth.

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.

Darwin Nunez, another direct and dynamic striker, hasn’t lived up to expectations after making a similarly pricey move from Portugal.

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.

Other expensive attacking imports from Portugal have found goalscoring more difficult in England.

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

Expensive exports have struggled in other leagues, too. Joao Felix has been unable to replicate his Benfica form for Atletico Madrid or Chelsea and is now being linked with a move to Saudi Arabia at 25.

Goncalo Ramos is an impact sub rather than a starter for Paris Saint-Germain. Jackson Martinez never lived up to his Primeira Liga pomp elsewhere.

Not every forward has struggled. Raul Jimenez scored more freely for Wolves and Fulham than he did for Benfica. Evanilson hit double figures for Bournemouth last season after a £40m move from Porto.

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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