Viktor Gyökeres had better hit the ground running because the pressure on him will be immense.
In a summer window where Arsenal could have signed Benjamin Šeško or Alexander Isak, they have instead signed Gyökeres – which was officially confirmed last night.
His desire to join Arsenal won’t matter; his goals will. He will be under the microscope, and critics will compare him to the alternatives Arsenal passed on.
He needs to impress.
If he doesn’t, some will inevitably ask: why did the club spend over £50 million on this flop when we easily let a top striker slip through our hands?
Biereth’s rise could turn heads
And who is that mystery striker?
Well, if Mika Biereth continues to impress at Monaco, questions will be asked about why Arsenal let him go.
Sold for just £4 million to Sturm Graz last summer, Biereth went on to shine in Austria, scoring 14 goals in 25 matches. Within six months of his Arsenal exit, he earned a big move to Monaco.
The Ligue 1 side certainly didn’t regret the transfer. It proved a masterstroke.
In 19 games for Monaco, Biereth racked up 13 goals, ending the 2024-25 season with 27 goals in 44 appearances.
Arsenal, who haven’t had a 20-goal striker since Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, could have used those numbers.
Biereth vs Gyökeres: the pressure is on
With 2025-26 fast approaching, all eyes will be on the ex-Gunner to see if he continues to flourish.
He will undoubtedly be compared to Gyökeres.
Already, Biereth’s market value of £62 million, according to the CIES Football Observatory, exceeds Gyökeres’.
But will we see the Swede’s value skyrocket in Arsenal red and white?
That remains to be seen. But for a striker who netted 54 goals in 52 games last season, you wouldn’t expect him to flop, would you?
Either way, the Gyökeres-to-Arsenal transfer is being finalised this weekend. was correct and we’ve got our man!
Hopefully, this will be the change of fortune Mikel Arteta’s attack has been yearning for.
What are your thoughts Gooners?
Daniel O
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Can’t the ridicule of Arsenal transfers in general at least wait until the player being used to make some kind of futuristic “point” step on the pitch? We let the great Biereth go. So many clubs were in for him and Sturm Graz should have been made to cough up at least £50m. We should have known his supposed value would currently be £62m. Really? Shame on us.🤦♂️ O.K. so the author won and I was triggered this morning by this dribble.
We could have at least given him some game time if MA isn’t so adverse to playing academy youngsters.
There was at least a game or two when he was around that results didn’t matter. Those were golden opportunities to see how he would perform in a match but we chose not to.
It’s no big deal but we can expect the occasional ridicule for giving away a player who might have been useful when we were desperate up front. Just hope he won’t turn into the next Gnabry
How many Gnabry’s have there been?
Even Gnabry has been good but not great at Bayern. Timing is everything with these youngsters attempting to break through.
Gyokeres doesn’t need to score 20+ goals as long as he can make his teammates more productive, as Firmino did for Liverpool several years ago
Biereth scored more goals than Balogun did in France, but I bet he didn’t make many assists and pre-assists
We had a world class goal-scorer in Aubameyang, but his goal tally couldn’t make us win EPL/ EL despite being supported by excellent players like Lacazette, Ozil and Pepe
This is why I’d prefer a physically-dominant CF like Sesko than a goal-stat chaser like Gyokeres, but we shouldn’t cry over spilled milk. I just hope his hold-up play will be much better than Havertz’s and Jesus’
If hold-up play is your thing maybe you should get Emile Heskey. Right now we need goals!!!
We had excellent £50+ m goal-scorers in Aubameyang and Lacazette, but they couldn’t win EPL and EL for us
@Gai that’s why you are not Arsenal coach😊
When we had Auba, defensive solidity wasn’t there for Arsenal and we didn’t have a goal keeper who is confident enough to play out from the back like Raya.
A coach has to look at what he lacked last season, and scoring goals was actually major. I bet Sesko is just going to be a pacey and physical version of Havertz. Goals was what we lacked last season and not hold up play. Gyokeres is self motivated to play for Arsenal and that’s a good ingredients for a CF to perform.
Just Like many fans doubted Merino when he was signed Gai, you will soon have a change of mind about VGyokeres.
because the rest of the cast was not delivering like they could have done. you can put Haaland in a relégation team and je won’t win them the PL
Tim well said 👍😃😃💯
Even in the case of the long time French league great goal scorer Lacazette, he did well for us but not as well as he did for Lyon (and has done again since his return to Lyon).
I think Lacazette was too slow for EPL
Perhaps that sums up the French ligue 1 !
I.am sure thr naysayers will.now comment on Portugals quality.of league but let’s at.least see Gyokeres play before.commenting !
I advocated buying Goykeres when he was with Coventry when he was “available for 10/15m”.I do not believe he has vastly improved since he performed in our Championship ,but he is undoubtedly a natural striker with a finisher’s instinct which is an area where we have been weak for a number of seasons.I hope i am not tempting fate when i point out his excellent fitness record ,and i do hope he is not overplayed which Arteta has a tendancy to do with the likes of Rice ,Saka and the much maligned Havertz who can still play an important role in the season ahead.
Even if we signed someone else and flops, fans would still critisize. If we signed Sesko and flops fans would say we missed Signing Gyokeres or Isak and visevessa.
Well thats why MA and his staff get paid an absolute fortune, to get it right!
If you fail and repeat the same mistakes at your own job do you expect to not be criticised?
There’s little point in going down any “what if” route about former players. We are firmly in the “what is” world, so let’s concentrate on that.
I think most fans now agree (although it hasn’t always been the case) that Arsenal needed a “proper” striker – a description that fits neither Havertz really nor, Jesus certainly.
Of course, there’s a lot of expectation on Gyokeres as there would be on any striker arriving at Arsenal now, given so few have over Arteta’s tenure! Nobody knows for sure if he’ll be a success or not – only time will tell as with any transfer at any club. I think he’ll be a very positive addition, but all we can do is wish him well and sit back and see what happens.
What are you on about exactly!? Biereth wasn’t pulling any trees when he left. How on earth are we gonna compare him and Gyokeres when they are leagues apart? Ooooh a NB d you need to check how many goals Gyokeres scored last season
@Kenya001
Biereth was never pulling up trees, because he never got a chance to show that he could.
He had a chance to show what he was made of in training every day. And in the youth leagues.
He was absolutely a known quantity to the coaches.
why is there no Arsenal vs Newcastle thread? We’ve won the game but we were outplayed for large sections of the 2nd half. Not sure how I feel about it. Max Dowman was excellent but Raya very disappointing. It seems he is not taking preseason seriously at all.
It’s in the news section
The predicted line up thread? It’s the only one on Newcastle I could find. Anyway, it seems like most people didn’t bother to watch the game.
Quanti,you are right on Raya. That’s why Arteta subbed him immediately after that goal.
On us being outplayed you may need to check again. Their equaliser was a fluke and Raya could have easily saved it. Even with the three 15 year olds on the pitch we still played well against such experienced opponents.
Max Dowman as you said is a great player in the making. Am sure Newcastle fans are saying the opposite of you coz it’s is their defence that was severally outplayed by this boy.
Give the guy a chance, at least half a season before judging him.
So Gyokers will be sporting the legendary Frenchman # 14 shirt, that’s a massive shoe to fill.
Hope Arsenal now finalize the deal to sign Eze, seems the final part of the jigsaw puzzle,.
So Arsenal won ugly against Magpies
What sort of an artis this? Really!!!!!
Article is this
Please, it’s too early to start being negative because we allowed a striker to go and sign another striker. We have all been clamouring for a natural striker. We’ve got one now! So why the worry!
No pressure please. Support the team and wait for the Man to play and perform before you judge!
The day I heard Arsenal sold Biereth for only peanuts without giving him any chance. I knew Stubborn Arteta has messed up again with academy talent and did a financial dent to Arsenal.
Any one can see that if not a Top notch but Biereth at least could have been useful backup Striker and plan B for Arsenal setup. At lease expecting him to have impact like Oliver Giroud. I bet he is as good as Haverts without costing us fortunes. But no he is not Chelsea discard so he could not impress Arteta.
If we could have got 30-40M at that time then the deal could have been justifiable but 4M we got for him that was crime
@GBH
RealTalk…👍🏾
At the time he was sold, not one single team was prepared to pay £30-40m for Mika.
Even after he went on to score 9 in 22 in Austria, Monaco only paid £10.8m for him. Maybe in a few years he’ll be worth something like that.
We made a profit on selling him as an academy prospect, and we have a sell-on clause for him, so we’ve probably made more than £4m off him already. Not worth stressing over.
Genuine question regarding the winter opinion that Gyo will be under pressure.
Is there pressure at Arsenal to deliver anything from the top management to the manager to the players to the fans?
I dont see it since Unai left.
I’m pretty sure that the owner will be putting pressure on Arteta as Arsenal’s spending this window alone moves inexorably towards £250m.
If nothing can be achieved in 2025-26 with that expenditure (+ earlier spending) then it will probably be time to bring in someone to “take the club to the next level” as they say.
Seriously, Unai era!! is more of top 4 dream which wasn’t achieved..
Why think of the worst when you can hope for the best. Let’s be positive at least
Let’s hope that Gyokeres is a prolific scorer for us.
I think he will be a big improvement on Havertz. Havertz wasn’t bad at all but we need better goal productivity
Come on England
This Guy is a finisher, we have to play to HIS strengths. He needs the right service. If we do not change to suit him, we will fail. He is a very very good striker. Lets give him the chance to show it. Proper early passes and really good delivery. He will finish.
It is definitely a team sport, hopefully he will be able to integrate well.
The only weak point I can see is the left Wing.
Also worried about Calafiori injuries……
But we have a big plus DOWMAN.
A player I have never seen play, so I am pretty ignorant regarding Gyokeres abilities. His reputation as a goal machine comes in the Portuguese league playing for one of their big three. It looks like a a gamble but I’m hoping he can do what Aubameyang did I his first two seasons, which might just be enough. This transfer window is looking more than just a tweak, isn’t it? The message is that something wasn’t working last season and I that it wasn’t all about injuries and bad refereeing.
Concerning Biereth, among other academy players. Why have an academy at all, if they’re not going to at least get a chance to prove their skills. It turns out to be a waste of money, when they’re either let go on the free by running down their contracts of sold for peanuts.
Saka Nwaneri MLS and now Dowman…. others didn’t make the grade…simple !
Would be interested to hear of one academy player who has set the world alight at a major club !
What nonsense about them not being given a chance. And at the same time same people want trophies and to play youngsters !
I’m afraid NYG that the academies are a bit of a gamble and not all of the youngsters will make the grade. I’ve noticed that those that have some promise usually go to the lower divisions where some will get better/mature and get better clubs. Others don’t develop as hoped and may never get beyond League 2 at best. The Saka’s of this world are few and far between. The Utd players in Beckham’s time – the class of whatever it was – were a rarity and outstanding to boot.
With you there N.Y_G. One consolation if I can call it that, is that we are not alone in running youth programs that appear wasteful., although Chelsea can make money on their failed youngsters by selling them to us. Too often the young players are simply overhyped. Take Manure for example. A few years ago after their youth team won the F.A. Cup, a number of their players were being hyped as the next golden generation. Reality though was that they had to come over to Arsenal to poach two of our most promising. Agree though, that we should do better in providing opportunities for our own youngsters and also in scouting around the lower divisions where someone like Gyokeres could have been picked up earlier at a bargain rate.
We got 9m for him including sell on clause
It is hard to find fault with Arsenal’s transfer business this summer. They needed a central defender and signed a good prospect in Cristhian Mosquera. They needed a back up for Saka and got a good one in Noni Madueke. They needed a reserve keeper capable of stepping in for Raya in the event of injury or suspension and got a good one in Kepa Arrizibalaga. They needed a replacement for both their holding midfielders and got two good ones; Christian Norgaard and Martin Zubimendi. Finally and most importantly, they desperately needed a center forward with the skills to play the position and got a good one in Victor Gyokeres.
The Gunners have even got some of their outgoing transfers right so far. Nuno Tavares, who has been embarrassingly good for everyone but Arsenal, is now A Lazio player. Kieran Tierney who played well but proved a touch fragile for the Premier League moved back Celtic, the aging Jorginho was allowed to move on, Tomiyasu’s contract was bought out, the team seems to have ducked most of the embarrassing fall out over Thomas Partey’s legal issues, Neto, who was somewhere between meh and bad is gone, and Raheem Sterling, who was a shadow of his former self, was allowed to return to Chelsea.
The negatives are plentiful, but relatively minor; though they might not stay that way. Can Gyokeres score at the same rate in the Premier League? Ethan Nwaneri’s route to the first team is now less clear. There is still a glut of left backs. There are still a handful of senior players with no role: Fabio Vieira, Reiss Nelson, and Albert Sambi Lokonga. What role Kai Havertz will play when he is second or third-best at all the positions he might occupy. Is there a place for Gabriel Jesus when he returns from injury? Where will Mikel Merino play now that Declan Rice is playing further forward, and Martin Zubimendi and Christian Norgaard will playing DM? Finally, can Mikel Arteta work Max Dowman into a lineup chock full of high-priced talent?
Very interesting read
The negatives are not too bad for me as I expect- I do – that Sambi and Reiss Nelson will move on. Same applies to Vieira. I have faith that the young talent will force their way in if they have the balls to do so. Jesus is one I fear for and also Calafiori if he can’t shake off his repetitive injuries
SueP,
I hope I’m wrong, but regarding Calafiori and his injury record so far. It seems we’ve got another player that gets injured with a twisted sock syndrome on our hands yet again.
Another Diaby maybe, I do hope not. 🤦♂️
Yes Derek. The only annoying factor is that he came with recent injuries- a bit like Tierney. Players who are constantly sidelined are not much use really
To be honest I’m not that thrilled with gyokeres. Given his age and the attitude toward sporting to force a move, I’m not super happy about the amount he cost. I’m also not sure how much he fits arteta’s system. Gyokeres doesn’t really create much for himself, so the others will have to create plenty of chances for him to score. He also will be unlikely to take penalties, and his record against to level teams is a little spotty. He is definitely a great finisher, but in big games it often comes down to someone creating a moment of brilliance for themselves.
I’m hoping he’s the missing piece that can push us to a title, but honestly if everyone is healthy, I probably prefer havertz or Jesus as long as they score at a decent rate. The team is scoring plenty of goals as is, but we need someone to create chances and score them against packed defenses. We need someone to beat defenders to the edge with either pace or trickery and put in consistently good crosses. At least that’s my opinion; we’ll have to see what, if any, adjustments arteta makes to the system to accommodate all these new players.