It has been a long and torturous wait for Arsenal to sign a serious, proven striker. The latest capture of Viktor Gyökeres, among a list of exciting new recruits, signals real intent to finally fight for a major trophy.
If my memory serves me correctly, our last genuine striker was Robin van Persie, who managed to score at least twenty goals in each of his final two seasons at the club. Sadly, he was allowed to leave, and strengthen a direct Premier League rival. As they say, the rest is history. Sir Alex Ferguson, whose Manchester United side had just lost the league title to bitter local rivals Manchester City, knew exactly what was needed to reclaim it: an experienced, lethal striker. He turned to none other than van Persie, then still on the books of our beloved Arsenal.
Arteta’s striker gamble has finally ended
Unlike the seasoned Ferguson, Mikel Arteta chose to stick with a squad lacking a true striker, hoping that goals would be shared across the team. That gamble ultimately failed. We all saw how the experiment with Kai Havertz, a player I feel is overrated, did not take us to the next level.
Losing the league title in three successive seasons and finishing second each time was, in my view, partly down to Arteta’s inexperience, but mainly due to the absence of a proper, proven striker.
Hopefully, that was a wake-up call for Arteta. It seems he has finally responded to the heartbreak of back-to-back runners-up finishes by pushing the board to bring in someone with a real eye for goal. With one of the best defensive records in the league already in place, it was essential to apply the final piece of the puzzle, and that is exactly what Gyökeres could represent.
This could finally be our season
Arsenal have now firmly established themselves as Premier League title contenders, and their return to the Champions League has brought with it a significant financial windfall. The signing of Gyökeres shows intent – intent to become champions once again.
It is my hope that he will continue the incredible goal-scoring form that saw him net 97 goals in 102 games for Sporting Lisbon. Sure, the Portuguese Primeira Liga may not be as competitive as the English Premier League, but history has shown that great players can make the leap successfully. Gyökeres will be surrounded by some of the most talented players in world football at Arsenal, and he can only get better from here.
I cannot wait to see him get down to business and score his first competitive goal in an Arsenal shirt. For the first time in many seasons, I truly believe that this could be the season – the one where all the disappointments and heartbreak of the last three campaigns finally come to an end.
Welcome to Arsenal, Gyökeres. And to my fellow Gooners, I say – here we go!!
Your thoughts welcome in the comments.
Aaron Magore
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Our last genuine striker was RVP? O.k……
Regardless, thanks for taking the time to write the article.
Gyokeres scored 54 goals in all competitions for Sporting last season, but 19 of them were penalties or 35% of his goal tally
Unfortunately for Gyokeres at Arsenal, Saka would likely get the penalties if he doesn’t leave this summer and Odegaard or Rice would likely take direct all free-kicks
I just hope his hold-up and link-up plays are much better than Havertz’s, Jesus’ and Merino’s, to improve the scoring chances of his new teammates
@ Gai, Arteta already said at his interview that he will allow the players to make decision on who takes penalty once Gyokeres is fully into the team.
He also said he will make suggestion. You can’t look past a striker who never lost a penalty for Sporting CP. And also scored two against Elderson of ManCity.
And scoring penalties is part of skill set of good CF.
Mabva maisa signature mkoma, this is our year.
Is it RVP or Auba our last genuine striker?
I think most of us now accept (although fewer of us admitted it over the past couple of seasons, judging by posts here) that not having a proven striker was a mistake. Arsenal has Gyokeres at last so that omission has been rectified.
Does it mean Arsenal will win the title now they have Gyokeres? Unfortunately, it doesn’t guarantee anything because other teams haven’t stood still while Arsenal added him (and other players) to the squad.
The 2025-26 season looks to me to be the most open title race for some time. That may, or may not, prove to be the best scenario for Arsenal, as opposed to the one-on-one races of the recent past. We’ll just have to wait and see whether the addition of Gyokeres turns out to be “the” deciding factor in Arsenal’s favour. Fingers crossed.
Sorry, but your first narrative is overly simplistic. Who are the proven strikers Arsenal could have got? And what should Arsenal have compromised in order to obtain this striker?
And what would have happened if this striker was also injured? People are now conveniently writing off GJ, whereas before injury he was one of the most effective attackers in the team.
Gyokeres joining Arsenal gives Arteta more options but of course we need to see how he deals with a new challenge. He’s a proven striker but hasn’t had to cope regularly with the kind of opposition he will now be up against. It also appears that expectations are pretty high which will add to the pressure. Where I would agree with you is that there are no guarantees.
It’s quite difficult to predict how the season will turn out as there have been significant changes at all the likely contenders. Much will depend on how quickly the new players gel with the team.
More wisdom from the mountaintop?
Who was available? Gyokeres himself was available, for a start. What would Arsenal have “compromised” getting a striker earlier? Why would they necessarily have compromised anything?
As to the striker being injured, what a daft comment. You can say that’s a possibility about any player in any position who is signed by any club (as we’re finding out with Calafiori now, for example). Follow that line of argument to its conclusion and Arsenal wouldn’t buy any player.
As for Jesus, his goal stats have been going down every season since he joined Arsenal and only reached double figures in his first season. People are writing him off because he is (clearly) an injury-prone striker who never has scored anywhere near the goals you’d expect a No 9 to score.
Obviously, we don’t know how Gyokeres will perform. That’s the same for any player, particularly those who have arrived from outside of the EPL – just like, say, Salah, Haaland and Isak to name but three.
Of course, there will be pressure on Gyokeres – he cost over £60m for a start. The same would be the case for Sesko or any other striker. There’s always pressure, particularly on the expensive ones.
There have been question marks about Gyokeres before now and he hasn’t been a “proven” striker. Even now he has yet to prove that he can provide the numbers for a top level club. If he performs at Arsenal then his transfer would of course be a great deal.
“Compromise” relates to the fact that there have been very few proven top level strikers in world football in recent years. These players would all come at huge cost which means that the club may have been limited in its ability to strengthen other parts of the team.
This is one reason for buying versatile players who may not be specialists, are likely to cost less, but can then provide cover if someone is out. This approach has helped Arsenal to maintain a certain level of competitiveness despite significant injuries across the team.
If you have spent much of your budget on a “proven” striker then your options to provide cover and strengthen other parts of the team are reduced.
😂 I always look forward to you’re posts Dav1d,it always reminds myself I’m not the biggest Idiot on JA
So one minute we’re a firmly established team in the PL and CL and the next minute, our last genuine striker was Judas RVP!!
If that’s the case , MA has done an incredible job, without the need for a striker!
Of course Judas wasn’t our last recognised striker and I suggest we don’t cherry pick his best seasons, but give the overall picture of his goal scoring achievements at the club.
Also, we didn’t let him go, he forced the club to sell him to their biggest rivals at the time.
Whether Gyokeres proves to be better than Giroud, Lacazette, Podolski and Jesus remains to be seen, but let’s not see him as the sole answer to us winning the PL and / or the CL…. the guy has got enough on his shoulders wearing the No. 14 shirt.