Ben White says he encouraged Viktor Gyokeres to join Arsenal when they spoke in the summer and classes the striker as one of the best professionals he has ever seen in football.
Arsenal’s hierarchy made signing a centre-forward their priority at the start of the summer transfer window and a number of high-profile attackers were assessed before the club set their sights on Gyokeres.
While Manchester United provided strong competition in the race for Gyokeres’ signature, the allure of Champions League football proved a major factor in the Gunners’ move – and a £63.5million deal was eventually agreed with Sporting after two failed bids.
After putting pen to paper on a five-year contract at the Emirates, Gyokeres has gone on to score two goals in his opening three matches Premier League matches, which both came in the side’s 5-0 thrashing of Leeds.
The 27-year-old will no doubt be desperate to increase his tally when the north London outfit return to action at home to Nottingham Forest this weekend.
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Before taking Portuguese football by storm with 97 goals in 102 games for Sporting, Gyokeres spent a largely forgettable period on the south coast with Brighton.
Gyokeres made just eight appearances for the Seagulls, scoring only once in that time, and it was at Coventry City that the Swede well and truly made a name for himself in the senior game.
‘Yeah, I know Viktor really well,’ Arsenal defender White told the club’s official website when asked about being reunited with his ex-Brighton team-mate all these years later.
‘We played together at Brighton for a long time, maybe three or four years, and I could tell even then that he was always destined for greatness. From the moment he came to Brighton, he was brought into the under-21s group and you could see he had something special about him at that age.
‘It was always me and him going up from the youth team to go and train with the first team all the time, so we spent a lot of time together.
‘We never really broke into the first-team consistently there, but we were always on the edges of it when we were young.’
White was quick to reassure Gyokeres that he would ‘love’ it at Arsenal when they briefly connected before the forward agreed terms with the Gunners.
‘It’s funny how things happen because we both went out on loan at different places, and now of course we’ve ended up at the same place after taking very different paths,’ White added.
‘I spoke to him a little bit before he signed, but there was a lot going on so I didn’t want to bother him.
‘All I said to him was that he would love it here, but I think he knew that already.’
White has no doubt that Gyokeres will prove to be a handful for Premier League defenders and believes his prior experience with Brighton and Coventry will stand him in good stead in English football.
‘He’s a monster! He lives for goals doesn’t he? He’s a constant threat,’ he continued.
‘You really don’t want to get in his way when you are playing against him, because he’ll just move you out of the way anyway!
‘He’s such a big presence and I think it will be a massive help that he’s already played in English football.
‘You see a lot of people come to the Premier League and they’ve had no taste of what it’s like and it can be a struggle.
‘But for Viktor, he’s well used to it. He played at Coventry, and I played loads of games with him at Brighton. So he’s seen it, he knows what it’s going to be like and what to expect from the defenders.’
White rates Gyokeres in a similar bracket to Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard when it comes to work ethic and professionalism on the training ground.
‘I can’t say a bad word about him to be honest. He’s one of the most professional trainers I’ve ever seen, he’s right up there with Martin Odegaard in that respect,’ he went on.
‘It’s great that we have these players coming in, because all this competition for places makes people lift their standards and it makes everyone better.’
Arsenal sit third in the Premier League table after three games, three points adrift of the leaders and reigning champions Liverpool.
Mikel Arteta’s men will be desperate to return to winning ways against Forest after falling to a 1-0 loss away to Liverpool in their previous outing.
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