Arsenal desperately needed to sign a new striker this summer after their struggle for goals last season and after a long wait, they eventually landed Viktor Gyokeres from Sporting CP.
The Swedish striker, who has been lighting up the Liga Portugal for the last couple of seasons has now moved on to the Premier League and is expected to be a key signing for Mikel Arteta, dictating his fate at Arsenal.
The Gunners have been finishing second in the Premier League for the last three seasons and the fans will hope that the Sweden international's arrival will help them win the league title.
Former Arsenal legend Lee Dixon believes that Gyokeres could be the ideal striker for the club whilst also hoping that he continues to improve in North London.
"It’s easy to look at the numbers and see how many goals he got for Coventry, and how many at Sporting, but what’s important is the little nuances when he’s not scoring. How does he handle three or five games without scoring, and the pressure that comes with that, with everyone on his back? If you see what he’s doing and you can tell he’s focused, making the right runs, maybe just being unlucky, then you can be confident it’s just a matter of time. But I've got a good feeling about him," Dixon told 10bet quoted via GOAL.
Gyokeres' first big move away from home was when he joined Brighton in 2018 and since then he has been loaned out to clubs like St. Pauli, Swansea City and Coventry City.
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He made a permanent switch to Coventry City in 2021 and it is from here that his career got reignited and after two years he eventually moved to Sporting, gaining wider attention for his exploits.
So, the 27-year-old has had his own share of struggles and Dixon believes that those experiences will help him develop as a striker during a barren phase in his career.
What did Dixon further say about strikers and the criticism around them?
The former Arsenal defender, who featured 22 times for England feels strikers are always a gamble as they are always judged with the number of goals that they have scored.
He also believed that the Gunners needed to sign a striker this summer after last season's struggles with Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus both getting injured and missing the business part of the campaign.
"I don’t think Mikel would have gotten away with ignoring bringing in a striker again. It seems like everyone wanted a striker this summer, and Arsenal weren’t the only ones, we've seen a lot of forwards signed by clubs this summer.
"It’s always a little bit of a gamble, and it dragged on for a bit with Gyokeres, but I like him as a player. I think he’s got a dimension to him that really suits how we play.
"And only time will tell whether he gets the goals, but they're all gambles, centre-forwards. If they don't score goals, it's a failure. It's as simple as that."
Gyokeres comes with high expectations after he netted 97 goals in 102 games for Sporting across two season whilst guiding them to back-to-back league titles.
The 27-year-old has already scored for Arsenal in the preseason with a thumping header in their 3-0 drubbing against Athletic Bilbao in a friendly.
The Swedish striker will be expected to replicate the same form on August 17 when Arsenal lock horns against Manchester United in their Premier League 2025/26 campaign opener at Old Trafford.
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