Victor Gyokeres Can't Save Arsenal

Well, it finally happened. After months of rumors and speculation, Arsenal have finally agreed a deal with Sporting CP to bring Victor Gyokeres to North London for €63.5 millon. Predictably, Arsenal fans on social media have gone crazy, claiming that they are going to win the league and that Gyokeres will be the best striker in the league. Delusion aside, things look good on paper with this signing. Victor Gyokeres promises to fix the one gaping hole in the Arsenal team that fans have been complaining about for years. He is a big, physical, athletic striker with a proven track record of scoring goals. In 33 League matches, Gyokeres scored 39 goals and provided 7 assists for Sporting CP last season. Victor Gyokeres promises to fix this last hole in the Arsenal team. His addition will be a breath of fresh air at the striker position, which hasn’t been properly filled since Aubameyang was run out of the club by Arteta in 2022.

Of course, underlying this entire situation is the undeniable sense of arrested development that Arteta’s Arsenal has come to embody. As of today, a whopping 1817 days have passed since Arsenal won the pandemic FA Cup in 2020. Since then, the Gunners haven’t even been able to make a final, let alone win a trophy. Arteta has somehow managed to get his team to finish 2nd three seasons in a row, while the entertainment value of the football has degraded over the years. Even some of the biggest, most ‘loyal’ Arsenal fans have begun to question the path the team is on under Arteta; however, one excuse has always remained. “We don’t have a real striker”. We hate to be the ones to say it, but Arsenal have many more problems on their hands that can't be fixed by one player.

Inadequacies Remain

Although Gyokeres will likely adapt well to the Premier League and be able to score a lot of goals, his presence will not disguise the other problems in this Arsenal team. The truth is Arsenal has serious problems at left wing, and in the 10, and unless these are addressed, they will go another year trophyless.

The most glaring issue is left-wing. Even the most delusional of Arsenal fans are starting to see that Gabriel Martinelli is not good enough for the level Arsenal wants to reach, and the recent addition of Noni Madueke certainly isn’t going to add much to the Gunners. In tight games, Arsenal will continue to be let down by Martinelli, a one-trick player who can't finish consistently and lacks the dynamism of many better wingers. In fact, Martinelli’s all-around game has gone down with the coaching of Mikel Arteta, but that is a discussion for another time.

Another truth some might not want to hear is that with Martin Odegaard starting, this Arsenal team will not be successful. Martin Odegaard is the most overrated player in the Premier League, and that is no exaggeration. We will eventually publish an in-depth analysis of his game, or lack thereof, but for the sake of this, we’ll make it simple. He slows the team down. Every time he touches the ball, he takes too many touches, spinning in circles, and always having to put the ball on his left foot. More importantly, he lacks the creativity that is needed for a proper #10. His only moves are passing 2 meters to Saka or putting in an embarrassing floated cross after cutting inside, which literally never work. Even Odegaard’s stats aren’t very good, which has us scratching our heads about why anybody rates him whatsoever, but again, we’ll make an entire analysis of his game. Let’s just say the majority of Victor Gyokeres’ service is not going to come from Martin Odegaard.

Competition From Man City And Liverpool

Arsenal’s important transfer business has consisted of Gyokeres, Zubimendi, Madueke, and Cristhian Mosquera. There is a lot of time to go in the window, but comparing this haul to Manchester City and Liverpool is laughable. Liverpool has signed 4 players that will start immediately on day 1 for the club, including Florian Wirtz, for whom they broke the transfer record. The Hugo Ekitike deal has just been agreed, and he will fill the striker void that they have been struggling with. Milos Kerkez and Jermeie Frimpong are brand new high-rated full backs. For a team that already won the league easily last season, these are considerable improvements, and all indications say that Liverpool is not done and intends to sign another player or two.

Manchester City, who barely finished below Arsenal, have also made improvements, with the signings of Rayan Cherki, Rayan Ait-Nouri, and Tijjani Reijnders. All 3 of whom are top-quality players and will all likely be immediate starters. On top of that, Rodri is coming back, and if he is even 80% of the player he was, this City team is looking stacked on paper. Except for Gyokeres, none of the Arsenal signings stand out whatsoever. We all have seen Madueke play for Chelsea and know he’s not that good. Cristhian Mosquera is just a back-up centre back who will get almost no playing time, and Martin Zubimendi, while good, is not as exciting of a midfield signing as a Tijjani Reijnders, for example. These signings make Arsenal better, but they aren’t in a vacuum. Liverpool has gotten better, and City has gotten much better, especially with their best player returning in Rodri.

We just can’t see a scenario where Arsenal pulls ahead of either Liverpool or City without injuries or some other fluke. On top of that, we have already seen Mikel Arteta in big pressure situations and the way he folds. Both in 22/23 and 23/24, his Arsenal side crumbled when the going got tough. Last season was rough from the start in the league, and Arteta hasn’t even shown the ability to be able to win domestic trophies. Even Crystal Palace just won the FA Cup. What gives Arsenal fans any confidence that even with Gyokeres, Arteta will be able to get the league or any trophy, for that matter, over the line?

Arsenal fans have been ‘Trusting The Process’ ever since that one FA cup win in 2020 and have seen no results. Unless Victor Gyokeres scores 50 goals in the Premier League, we see no reason why anything is going to change for the Gunners.