Most Gooners were enthused by the prospect of Arsenal adding a striker in the summer transfer window. Viktor Gyokeres is a striker who most of us were thrilled to see join Mikel Arteta’s project.
The Sporting Lisbon striker was rumoured to be a target for Arsenal for the 2023-24 season. Many were astounded by his goal-scoring skills, which culminated in 43 goals and 15 assists for that season.
While no European teams showed interest in his services early in the summer, it became clear in July that Arsenal would have scouts monitoring him (they wanted to see how he performs after a minor surgery he had).
During the pre-season, the ex-Coventry player performed admirably, and as the Premier League transfer deadline approached, Gooners eagerly anticipated whether his swoop would go through, but it did not and we ended up with Raheem Sterling on Deadline Day instead.
Gyokere’s performance over the last few months hinted at why Arsenal might have missed a transfer trick. The Swede has been an exciting player for both his club and nation. He has 10 goals and 5 assists in his last 10 appearances for club and country.
🤖🇸🇪 Viktor Gyokeres has already 15 goal contributions for club and country this season!
10 goals, 5 assists for Sporting striker.
vs Porto 👟👟
vs Rio Ave ⚽️👟
vs Nacional ⚽️⚽️
vs Farense ⚽️⚽️⚽️
vs Porto ⚽️
vs Azerbaijan ⚽️👟👟
vs Estonia ⚽️⚽️ pic.twitter.com/AFvTteIgzH— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) September 8, 2024
If there’s one man in excellent shape, it’s him. Arsenal could have won the game against Brighton, especially in the first half, if they had someone as clinical as him.
It’s unclear if Arsenal will maintain their interest in the former Championship star and if he’s gradually persuading them to try to sign him.
The North Londoners may be justified in spending money on a top striker as soon as the transfer market opens, given Eddie Nketiah’s departure and lack of replacement. If Gyokeres is not the next striker Arsenal signs, it will be intriguing to see how effective the one they do get is.
Sam P
ADMIN COMMENT
So here are some simple rules which I must insist commenters follow….
You agree not to give any personal abuse to other Arsenal fans. Everyone is allowed to hold their own opinions even if you disagree with them. It COSTS NOTHING TO BE POLITE TO OTHER ARSENAL FANS.
CALLING ALL ARSENAL FANS! Anyone who would like to contribute an Article or Video opinion piece on JustArsenal, please contact us through this link…
It’s not so bad, we got Sterling for nothing more than his wages, and could still try for Gyokeres next time. It’s not as if Arsenal chose Rahem over Viktor, just that we were unlucky in our attempt to sign him. No blame can be attached.
@Jax
If Arteta had really wanted him, he would have gotten him. Luck had zero to do with it. Just sayin…
I would say more to do with the fact we are skint because of the splurges we have seen over the last few years .
It was obvious it would come to a head eventually,especially with are non existent out goings ,even this season we are in the red again and that’s been our best selling transfer window in awhile .
The only explanation for arsenal not getting Gyokeres is it seems the club was working on a budget in the last transfer window, they had to sell to buy that’s why some senior players left eg Ramsdale, Smith Rowe and Nketiah.
The figure of £80m was often reported for Gyokeres and that almost certainly was beyond Arsenal’s ability to pay.
The BBC is reporting an overall net transfer spend of only £17.2m for Arsenal in the summer window. That’s pretty good considering – but absolutely not the “profit generator” for a purchase like Gyokeres. That said, he wasn’t the only option though.
the other explanation to your ‘only explanation’ is Gyokeres that he was not a priority for Edu/Arteta, there is zero evidence Arsenal were seriously in for Gyokeres, or Osimhen, or Toney
Arsenal did not miss out because you can miss out on something you were never in for in the first place
Very misleading headline!
You would think Arsenal had a choice between Sterling and Gyokeres and decided for the former. Nothing could be further from the truth!
We Arsenal fans need to face reality. Any fan thinking that Arsenal would splash 100m euros on a player in the last summer window would just be kidding themselves. That’s not reality; it’s fan-tasy.
High time we believed in what we have and hope for the best. Neither of our closest rivals in City and Liverpool broke the bank either. So if we fail it won’t be for the failure to buy Gyokeres, much as I would have loved to have him with us right now
I agree with your initial point. I don’t think the comparison with City, in particular, is valid though.
The BBC is reporting that City made the biggest net profit of any club in the recent summer window – £115.8m. Clearly, they chose not to spend any of that money on reinforcements as opposed to not having the funds to do so like Arsenal (who made a net loss of £17.2m on transfers).
Indeed, there’s a report that Pep now has a £100m transfer fund at his disposal for the January or Summer windows should he need it then.
But they won’t spend that budget on one player. That’s my point. The reality is that City are not likely going to do another Grealish, or Arsenal another Rice. That’s the reality I’m talking about
agreed, silly headline, Edu/Arteta decided well before deadline day to not go for Gyorkeres, probably even before the transfer window opened, i.e. nothing more than click bait and dribble on fans chin
Sterling on the other hand was a purely opportunistic bargain we could not refuse on the final day, who would have thought Chelsea would be so generous to gift us a player of Sterling quality with no obligation
the truth is if Edu/Arteta were in Gyorkeres then Arsenal would have got both Gyorkeres and bargain Sterling as clearly one is not a replacement for or getting in the way of the other
nonsense headline
👍Arsenal1886
Doing great in Primeira Liga can easily be irrelevant as far as doing great in the PL is concerned as we’ve seen on many occasions. Thus, I can see where the risk associated with his cost especially in this window was too great for us (or any other club – even as a backup at MC). I believe he has turned a corner in his career going back even before last season and that his skills would have likely transferred reasonably well but that’s just my opinion.