The signing of prolific goalscorer Viktor Gyokeres has Mikel Arteta hopeful his side can finally land the Premier League season, but the Spaniard has been sent one warning over his new Swedish star
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has been warned by Rio Ferdinand that Viktor Gyokeres‘ underwhelming record against top teams could pose a problem. After a drawn out transfer saga, the Gunners finally clinched the signing of Swedish star Gyokeres from Sporting CP last month for £63.7 million.
His signing has been met with a rapturous response from fans who hope to see the marksman, who bagged 97 goals in 102 appearances for Sporting, spearhead Arsenal to the title this season. Ferdinand is not as convinced, however.
However, while Gyokeres has claimed he will reward fans with a glut of goals, alarm bells have been ringing with a troubling stat that states that Gyokeres scored just two goals in eight games against teams that finished between second and fifth in the Portuguese top-flight last season.
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Claims that the player is a flat-track bully will no doubt concern Arteta, with Arsenal struggling to score against teams in the top of half of the Premier League last year, as they ultimately finished second behind Liverpool.
Ferdinand, while fully confident Gyokeres will score plenty for Arsenal, did air his concerns over his record against the top teams.
“That would be a flag for me,” Ferdinand said. “I don’t think it would determine if I’d take him, but it would be something where I’d go, ‘Let me just look back further down the line’ – and then what’s the reason?
“We watched a game together he played in, against Man City, and we watched the game against Arsenal together as well. Against Arsenal he played against two machines, Saliba and Gabriel, they made it a hard day’s work for him and they do for most strikers. So, physically if he matches, what else has he got? That’s the question I’m asking now.
“Then he played against Man City, he looked menacing, he looked good [but] played against an 18-year-old centre half [Jahmai Simpson-Pusey]. [Manuel] Akanji played against him and didn’t play that well against him either, so it skewered the ‘oh, he can do it against English teams’ for me.
“There are question marks, but I just feel, for Arsenal, he’s going to get so many more looks on goal, I don’t think it’s a big gamble for Arsenal. As long as he doesn’t go looking for football outside the box too much. Stay in and around the penalty box and the ball will come.”
Concerns are ongoing after the very same attributes that saw Arteta prioritise the striker are now seemingly forcing the Gunners’ boss to already make a tactical shift in pre-season in order to adapt to the striker. ESPN reported the Spaniard has told his players to get the ball forward as quickly as possible to utilise his strengths, with Gyokeres yet to score for Arsenal in pre-season.
Speaking on The Rest Is Football podcast, Gary Lineker also shared his concerns, with the ex-Match of the Day host branding Gyokeres’ transfer as a “gamble”.
Gyokeres won the golden boot In the Primeira Liga last year with 39 goals while his side clinched a second successive title. Yet he only scored twice in eight league games against Benfica, who finished in second, Porto who finished third and against Braga and Santa Clara, who ended up fourth and fifth respectively.
Those stats present a worry to Arteta’s given his team averaged 2.05 goals per game against bottom-half sides in 2024/25 compared to 1.55 against top-half opponents.
The Gunners also had a 70% win rate against the bottom-half teams and only 33% against the top half. However, they will be encouraged by Gyokeres scoring six goals in the Champions League, including a memorable hat-trick against City in November 2024.
He also scored a crucial late goal to beat Benfica in the Portuguese cup final, showing he can operate as a clutch player when his team really needs it.
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