On Sunday, it became clear that Arsenal had opted for Viktor Gyökeres as their striker signing, following weeks of speculation over whether it would be him or Benjamin Šeško.
While Arsenal were willing to spend on Šeško for a reasonable fee, RB Leipzig were unwilling to compromise on their position and held firm on their ambitious asking price.
Arsenal had no choice but to turn to the Bundesliga hitman’s alternative.
With that settled, if Arsenal had gone for Šeško, they would have been banking on his development under Mikel Arteta, hoping he would eventually reach his full potential.
The Slovenian is not yet a finished product.
And while it was always clear he is not yet a top-level goal scorer, some could not ignore that Arsenal might have been better off signing a proven, high-scoring striker. Surely those doubts have now been put to rest.
Gyökeres scores goals
If it is a prolific striker you want, Gyökeres fits the bill, at least that is what his extraordinary numbers for Sporting CP suggest:
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102 games
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97 goals
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28 assists
Some worry he is thriving in a less competitive league and may struggle in the Premier League.
But one might ask: If Mikel Merino was thriving as our striker, why would anyone assume that a natural No. 9 like Gyökeres would turn out to be another Darwin Núñez?
Big clubs take risks for glory
That said, big clubs are often willing to take risks on proven goal scorers. Despite their age, Barcelona and Bayern Munich splashed the cash on Robert Lewandowski (33) and Harry Kane (29), respectively.
If Gyökeres can sustain his goal-scoring form, he could enjoy some top seasons in red and white.
Some have claimed there is a missing piece Arteta needs to solve his Arsenal puzzle. Well, the Sporting hitman’s goals may just be it.
Your thoughts welcome in the comments Gooners.
Daniel O
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Don’t see how the title is answered by the post? Why won’t he flop? Because he scored goals and clubs take risks?
So why won’t he flop?!
hahahaha_ he won’t flop cos he’s better at scoring goals than Merino!
Gyokeres will not only score goals, he will assist them.
The naysayers point to the Portuguese League and conveniently ignore his Champions League records
Same as me. My optimism comes from the way he scores his goals. He seems to create most of his own goals by being brave and taking on the opposition defences.
He does not seem like a “Tap In” merchants but instead he is more of a creator of his own chances and also creates a lot for his own team.
🤞
Normally, I very much prefer PL tested transfers in. However, in this case, I’m hopeful because of how he clicked on at Coventry when he was just turning 21. Did he have something in him just begging to get out at the right time? Whether he will continue to destroy defenses once in the PL is obviously a question mark but over the last 4 seasons it’s pretty difficult to see how he could have done much better in showing he deserves a chance to do so. You can only deal with the challenges that are placed in front of you. We’ll see 🤞
We need a creative midfielder still…last season we lacked that.our captain’s form wasn’t good..saka injured..martenelli not good..a creative player sustain our front line
No one can predict the future.
He might turn out as a flop or Might turn out a hit.
But my own opinio i do feel like he is going to be very scary for the EPL.
🤞🤞
As others have said, nobody knows (that’s “knows”, rather than guesses, hopes, etc.) he’ll be a great success or a terrible flop, or somewhere in between.
He hasn’t signed for Arsenal yet, let alone kicked a ball for them, so it’s a little premature at this stage – to say the least. Other strikers have been a success on moving to new clubs, as the article mentions, but not always. Nunez at Liverpool comes to mind as being one who has underperformed against expectations.
What we do know is that Arsenal will have done their homework thoroughly on Gyokeres (particularly as their interest in him seems to have gone on almost for decades at times!). In the end though, transfers are always a gamble to one degree or another.
We all
Know if he’s flops it will be bertas fault ,if he does well it will because of Arteta .
I personally think he’s just what we need but I won’t be slopping over the boss when he does ,I’ll save that for the Arteta fluffers .
Comes in, scores 10 goals and we win the league, i’ll take that as a hit. He’ll shine. I know that.
Kai and Merino where flops until they took them to lead the Line that means a pure and proven Goal Scorer will score goals for fun actually Gyokerees if signed 40goals expect from Him