Viktor Gyokeres needs help from Mikel Arteta to avoid becoming an expensive transfer mistake

Whoever was to be selected as Arsenal’s next number nine — a position that’s dominated every Arsenal fan’s imaginary shopping list for years — would have always had a daunting to-do list.

The brief is, arguably, terrifying: Ensure Arsenal win a major trophy, score a boatload of goals in the most competitive league in the world, contribute in Europe, psychologically lift a team in need of new attacking verve particularly on its left hand side, and do it all with style and grace so the fans get behind you.

You’ll be compared to Thierry Henry and judged from minute one — best of luck! Swedish striker Viktor Gyokeres may not have been the first choice, but a push from new Sporting Director Andrea Berta means he is now making his way through that to-do list.

Early signs? Well, two goals in three Premier League appearances leaves room for optimism, but we can’t ignore the mixed reviews. Criticism in particular has surrounded his lack of involvement, his gait, his athleticism, and even (bizarrely) his habit of adjusting his hair, prompting Gyokeres himself to respond by way of celebration against Leeds.

It’s perhaps unfair that in his first season in one of Europe’s top five leagues he will be expected to perform at par with the likes of Alexander Isak and Erling Haaland, but that’s the cold hard reality of the task Arsenal face this year — and until Kai Havertz returns, all eyes are on him.

So first, what can Viktor himself to do seize success in North London? Gyokeres is a player with unique strengths — literally. His physique is obviously impressive, and shoulder to shoulder he is incredibly dominant, easily shrugging off Matthijs de Ligt in a clip that went semi-viral.

But while he’s built like Johnny Bravo, back to goal he is more Johnny English — displaying a worrying habit of being unable to stand his ground and hold the ball when Arsenal seek to evade the press by going long, something they’re doing more and more often.

At Anfield he contested three aerial duels and won none of them. At Old Trafford it was six contested, one win. Arsenal can adjust their methodology of course, but he needs to get better.

After Mikel Arteta’s excellent work with the likes of Bukayo Saka and Havertz on improving their back to goal game, Arsenal fans will be hoping regular training with the likes of Gabriel Magalhães could see some development here.

Gyokeres is also a little scruffy and inefficient in his actions. Who cares when he’s scoring, right?

But against tighter blocks with higher level defenders, the time he requires on the ball may be a problem, and he’ll need to sharpen up. A pre-season goal with his head has perhaps misdirected some fans.

He has scored only six goals with his head since 2020 and went the entirety of 24/25 without a headed goal, somewhere else he can look to reach new levels.

However, the fact remains that Gyokeres is a goal machine when put in the right positions — and considering the price Arsenal paid for him, only £55m guaranteed, when looking around at the money committed to other forwards, maybe eyes can be taken off Gyokeres a touch to look more at the collective.

Gyokeres has made the fourth most runs in behind in the Premier League so far with thirty-four but Arsenal have played only five through balls in their three games, ranking them eleventh in the league.

Gyokeres is an intense and aggressive runner, but if Arsenal want to see more of the devastating transition quality he has they will need to create more moments like the one against Leeds — an early ball in behind from Calafiori for him to capitalise on. Martinelli’s head down dribbling and Martin Odegaard’s late releases aren’t going to work, one suspects.

Encouragingly, Eberechi Eze thrives here. He built up a superb relationship with his previous strike partner Jean-Philippe Mateta with those early, dagger like balls which split defences. Of Eze’s eight Premier League assists for Crystal Palace in the 24/25 season, six were to the Frenchman — and if Gyokeres continues to show his left-sided bias for Arsenal where Eze will likely be, this could certainly be repeatable.

When Gyokeres first signed for Arsenal, Arteta highlighted his ‘intelligent movement in the box’ and you can see that in flashes — but not only do Arsenal have a highly publicised lack of chance creation, they also don’t take enough shots, ranking sixth for shots on target in the Premier League in 24/25. To capitalise on his intelligent movement, latching onto balls and ghosting into pockets, they will need to take more risks in the final third.

Here’s the existential question, though. Gyokeres is in one of the most tactically versatile leagues on the planet — so should a team at the very highest level be thinking this much about serving a brilliant but limited player? Of course it’s a balancing act.

If the game model is skewed too far to him, not only does that become predictable, you begin to lose the qualities of other players — but you also need to adapt to what you have.

The solution appears to me to be, yes to work on those individual weaknesses and tweak to his strengths, but also for Arsenal to be very intentional about when and where they use Gyokeres.

In the first half against Liverpool the game was very tactical, a chess match, which feels more like a Havertz game, a game for a ‘space creator’. In the second half as the game opened up, you need a ‘space punisher’, and that feels more like a Gyokeres game. When Havertz returns, that partnership could be incredibly effective, playing with and without one another.

Something about Gyokeres both terrifies and excites me. 15-year-old Max Dowman had the chance to become the youngest Premier League goalscorer in history when he came on and won the penalty against Leeds — but Gyokeres didn’t bat an eyelid.

He took the penalty for himself despite being 4-0 up with just moments to play. He just wants to score goals. It is perhaps that ruthlessness that Arsenal have missed the most. So if the kinks can be ironed out, maybe Gyokeres will begin to get through that to-do list in clinical, machine-like style.