“I do not suppose he is the man,” Rio Ferdinand says of Viktor Gyokeres.
“I’ve watched him in all probability thrice actually, actually carefully. And thrice I’ve gone: ‘He ain’t getting that chance within the Prem.'”
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Sweden striker Gyokeres, 27, has simply accomplished a from Sporting to Arsenal.
Gyokeres has scored an outstanding 97 objectives in 102 appearances for the Portuguese membership, and contributed 26 assists.
He averaged greater than a objective per recreation final season, with 54 in 52 appearances.
However when he was being linked with Manchester United, Ferdinand stated he was not satisfied Gyokeres was a very good match for a crew in England’s high flight.
The six-time Premier League winner, talking on his Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast, requested: “Is there sufficient – after he is bodily matched – to get him a objective?”
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Nevertheless, Bjorn Hamberg, Gyokeres’ former assistant coach at Brighton and fellow Swede, tells BBC Sport: “He has acquired the physicality for positive.”
Arsenal had been one in every of quite a few high golf equipment linked with the previous Brighton participant after an excellent couple of seasons with Sporting, the place he performed below Manchester United supervisor
Along with his 39 objectives in Portugal’s Primeira Liga in 2024-25, Gyokeres helped himself to a different six within the Champions League – together with a
He has gone from leaving Brighton with out taking part in a single minute of Premier League soccer to changing into one in every of Europe’s most prolific marksmen – through mortgage spells within the Championship at Swansea and Coventry, and in Germany with St Pauli.
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However how produce other gamers fared when transferring from Portugal to England? And the way will Gyokeres examine?
Viktor Gyokeres completed the 2024-25 Primeira Liga season with 39 objectives – no different participant reached 20 [@OptaAnalyst]
Do Portuguese league forwards often reach England?
There isn’t a doubt about probably the most profitable import from the Primeira Liga – Cristiano Ronaldo, who additionally got here from Sporting.
The 18-year-old, then a winger, joined Manchester United for £12.24m .
He went on to attain 118 objectives in 292 appearances for United – with 103 of these within the Premier League.
He received three Premier League titles, the Champions League and a Ballon d’Or earlier than a world-record £80m transfer to Actual Madrid.
The subsequent most prolific participant to make the transfer from Portugal to England was additionally a Sporting to United signing – Bruno Fernandes.
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The now United captain has scored 62 objectives in 195 Premier League appearances – with a complete of 98 objectives in 290 video games for the membership – following his January 2020 transfer for a price of £47m, rising to £67.7m.
In between these two, Nani additionally made the Sporting to United transfer in 2007 and netted 25 occasions in England.
Taking a look at out-and-out strikers, Mexico ahead Raul Jimenez has scored 59 Premier League objectives for Wolves and Fulham.
He joined Wolves from Benfica for a then club-record £30m in 2019 after a profitable mortgage spell.
However for each Ronaldo, there’s a Mario Jardel. The Brazilian received the Golden Boot 5 occasions in Portugal and netted 179 objectives in 176 video games within the nation’s high flight.
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“His goals-per-game ratio is second to none anyplace on the earth. Now we have discovered a striker who’s going to attain objectives for us regularly,” stated Bolton supervisor Sam Allardyce after they signed him in August 2003.
Aged 29, he solely made seven substitute appearances within the Premier League, together with his solely three objectives for the membership coming within the League Cup.
Allardyce would go on to name him the worst participant he ever managed.
Jardel was the primary Portuguese league high scorer to maneuver to the Premier League – with Gyokeres the latest – and there have been three in between.
Benni McCarthy high scored with Porto in 2003-04 and two years later joined Blackburn Rovers.
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In his first season with Rovers he scored 18 Premier League objectives and was solely two behind Golden Boot winner Didier Drogba.
He would rating 37 league objectives in 109 video games for Blackburn – and none in 11 for West Ham.
Carlos Vinicius and Darwin Nunez are the opposite gamers to win current Portuguese Golden Boots – each with Benfica – earlier than less-than-prolific spells in England.
Vinicius joined Tottenham on mortgage in 2020 after which Fulham completely in 2022 – and has scored a mixed eight objectives in 53 Premier League matches.
Nunez, in the meantime, has netted 25 objectives in 95 league video games for Liverpool since his £64m transfer three years in the past.
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Will Gyokeres flourish in a more durable league?
Take a look on the listing of main goalscorers in Europe’s high leagues in 2024-25 and the same old suspects are there.
Actual Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe managed 31 in his debut season in La Liga, Mohamed Salah contributed 29 objectives as Liverpool claimed the Premier League crown, whereas Robert Lewandowski completed on 27 throughout Barcelona’s title-winning season – another than England captain Harry Kane’s tally for Bayern Munich.
Gyokeres, who’s 6ft 2in, managed 39, although the Primeira Liga will not be thought of one of many high 5 leagues in Europe.
The query is whether or not he could be prolific in a stronger league. He has simply turned 27 and is but to play in Europe’s high 5 divisions – therefore Ferdinand’s feedback.
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It’s maybe value noting 35% of his objectives in 2024-25 got here from penalties, as he efficiently transformed all 19 of his spot-kicks.
There’s little denying that Gyokeres is a goalscorer, however will he be so successful towards elite-level defences?
“Clearly with Arsenal’s entrance gamers there’s going to be competitors,” says Hamberg.
“I believe he is dedicated to let go once more and clearly he understands that Arsenal shall be one other step up within the ladder.
“On the identical time, in his previous few seasons, particularly within the Champions League, you may see he’s in all probability extra ready than ever to take that problem on.
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“He improves yearly and usually stays match. He is simply a type of gamers who is nice across the field, a very good finisher, however he is additionally fairly sturdy in transition and in massive areas.
“So he is fairly versatile in that sense and I believe that is a extremely massive factor within the Premier League.”
Gyokeres has earlier in England
Gyokeres has already performed for a Premier League membership.
Having did not make the grade, Brighton allowed him to affix Coventry for a small price in July 2021 after an unspectacular return of three objectives in 19 Championship appearances throughout a mortgage spell with the Sky Blues.
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Two years later, he went to Sporting for £20.5m after scoring 38 occasions in 91 league video games for Coventry throughout the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons.
Whereas in Lisbon, Gyokeres has scaled new heights and in addition performed on the worldwide stage as a part of an thrilling attacking line-up for Sweden, alongside Newcastle’s Alexander Isak and Tottenham’s Dejan Kulusevski.
Gyokeres scored 9 objectives in six video games for his nation – together with 4 in a single match towards Azerbaijan – within the 2024-25 Nations League.
However it isn’t simply his objectives which have earned him consideration.
Gyokeres is understood for his clever motion and intense work-rate, and his mix of bodily energy, technical ability and tactical consciousness have earned admiring glances from golf equipment.
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He’s a creator in addition to a goalscorer, with numerous his probability creation coming from his love of operating with the ball.
“After we had him, we had Glenn Murray who had scored double figures the season earlier than, and we signed Neal Maupay from Brentford,” says Hamberg, who was Graham Potter’s assistant at a number of golf equipment together with Brighton.
“So then Viktor was just like the third or fourth [choice]. He would nonetheless play video games for us within the Carabao Cup.
“From our viewpoint we had been pleased with him to have a help function being younger, and be prepared to seek out a possibility.
“However as an individual, when he has his thoughts on one thing he often goes all-in for that.
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“After which he actually pushed to get out on mortgage as a result of he has simply had a mindset of ‘if he performs he will do nicely’.”
‘He all the time had the thought to be a high participant’
Gyokeres’ distinctive objective celebration is impressed by Bane, the villain from the Batman movie The Darkish Knight Rises, and entails him crossing his fingers over his mouth, mimicking a masks [Getty Images]
Gyokeres’ former team-mates and coaches keep in mind a younger boy who cried when he misplaced. They speak about a “cussed child” who was “wild, actually aggressive” and would often come to blows with team-mates.
There are tales about Gyokeres’ single-mindedness, focus and drive.
David Eklund, academy scout at his first senior membership Brommapojkarna, tells BBC Sport: “He was by no means a famous person like Dejan Kulusevski. However he scored objectives. That is it.
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“He had a robust mentality however he is a very nice man. He all the time labored exhausting and had the thought of being a high participant, coaching daily. He needed to show folks flawed.”
Dennis Lawrence, who was a part of Mark Robins’ backroom workers at Coventry when Gyokeres was there, says: “He is acquired that potential to give attention to and obtain something he needs.”
Hamberg, who was assistant supervisor when Gyokeres was at Brighton and remembers the younger striker pushing for a mortgage transfer as a result of he felt he was not getting sufficient minutes, provides: “What I like with him is that he is fairly cussed.
“His mindset is basically good. He does not simply sit down and look forward to one thing to occur. He actually needs to seize it himself. He trains how he performs, he is only a hard-working individual that is able to put a shift in. When it goes dangerous he can all the time depend on his work ethic.”
Extra reporting by senior soccer information reporter Alex Howell