Viktor Gyokeres looks set to make his English Premier League debut with Arsenal in the 2025-26 season. A potent goal-scorer seemed to be the missing piece of the puzzle in Mikel Arteta‘s aspirations of winning the EPL in the last three seasons. While the Spanish manager has tried to fill that striker’s void by trying different players in that position, a proven central forward was still what the Gunners had been searching for.
Arsenal has been chasing Viktor Gyokeres for a while now. However, they did face certain hurdles in a desired transfer move for the Swedish striker. Whether it’s been the ability to match Sporting CP‘s demands in terms of the transfer fee, or facing an in-between scare from League rivals Man United for Gyokeres’ signing.
Well, now it looks like Arsenal has got the 27-year-old on board. Fabrizio Romano, a couple of days ago, broke the news that ‘a verbal agreement is in place’ between all the parties involved for Gyokeres’ move to the North London-based club. Romano further clarified that Sporting CP did accept Arsenal’s refreshed bid for the forward as he will pen down a 5-year contract at the Gunners.
Can Gyokeres solve Arsenal’s number 9 dilemma?
After agreeing on a hefty transfer fee of around £63.8 million (as per ‘Sky Sports’; £55.1 million + £8.7 million in add-ons) with Sporting for Viktor Gyokeres, Mikel Arteta would hope that the 27-year-old striker is the one who solves Arsenal’s recent number 9 troubles. The Swedish forward has the capability to score goals in a canter.
Arsenal and Mikel Arteta have tried players like Gabriel Jesus, Kai Havertz, and even Mikel Merino on different occasions during the last three Premier League seasons. However, despite Havertz coming out as the most productive of them and providing Arteta with an outlet, there is no denying the fact that the Gunners still looked like a side missing a proper number nine.
With Viktor Gyokeres now looking set to lead Arsenal’s front line in the 2025-26 Premier League campaign, Arteta would be hoping to find that right balance between attack and defense to capture those crunch moments in crucial games.
A striker like Gyokeres could provide that by converting potential goal-scoring opportunities and piling on that pressure upon the opponent while working in sync with the wide and midfield players like Gabriel Martinelli, Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice, and Martin Odegaard.
If Viktor Gyokeres clicks, Arsenal could be in for a title shout
Arsenal has come close to winning the Premier League title in the last couple of seasons. In the 2024-25 campaign, they finished second behind Liverpool. In the seasons before that of 2023-24 and 2022-23, they finished second behind Man City by the thinnest margins of 2 and 5 points. The last three seasons do give us the impression that Mikel Arteta’s side is not far away from glory.
Bringing in a game-changing striker like Viktor Gyokeres, who’s got an eye for a goal, and is equally good in the air and on the ground as well, could be the difference in the 2025-26 season for the Gunners.
The defense has been solid for Arteta in recent seasons, and wide areas have been productive with players like Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, and Leandro Trossard in there. The midfield looks quite competitive. Maybe it’s time for an out-and-out striker like Gyokeres, to turn Arsenal forward line’s central attacking fortunes around.
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