Is Gyokeres the missing piece to win Arsenal the title?

It's been a long time coming for Arsenal fans, but the addition of Viktor Gyokeres ends a three-year wait for an out-and-out striker. Alex Keble takes a look at the key qualities the prolific forward will bring apart from goals, and if he can deliver the club a Premier League title. 

Arsenal have been searching for the missing piece of the jigsaw for a long time, but the mixture of excitement and relief that has greeted the capture of Viktor Gyokeres speaks to a more fundamental task completed.

Discounting Kai Havertz, who was arguably signed to play as a No 8, the last time Arsenal bought a striker was 4 July 2022, when Gabriel Jesus joined from Manchester City after playing 14 of his 29 Premier League matches in 2021/22 from the wing.

It is the first time in three years Arsenal have signed a striker. Better yet, the Gunners have purchased a proper goalscoring No 9 for the first time in seven-and-a-half years, since Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang arrived in January 2018.

Gyokeres is nothing if not a goal machine, registering 97 in 102 matches in all competitions for Sporting.

He is a battering ram of a centre-forward, renowned for his runs in behind, a crucial point of difference for Arsenal and, therefore, marking a turning point in the Mikel Arteta project.

Here is what Gyokeres brings to the Gunners.

1. Incredible goalscoring numbers can help Arsenal puncture low blocks

An impressive 43 goals in 50 matches the season before last were followed by an outrageous 54 in 52 games last season. The headline figures promise everything Arsenal supporters have been dreaming of.

Gyokeres scored 39 league goals in 2024/25, more than any other player in Europe’s top 10 leagues, missing out on the European Golden Boot to Kylian Mbappe only because the Real Madrid striker’s goals counted for more points in a weighted system.

European Golden Boot top five rankings

Gyokeres scored eight goals more than anyone else, and although 12 of these were penalties, his 27 non-penalty goals still put him top of the European list.

Unsurprisingly these elite numbers come with corresponding under-the-bonnet stats.

Last season Gyokeres had a shot-conversion rate (excluding blocks) of 35.14 per cent, by far the most in Portugal among players to have taken 15 or more shots – and second for the Premier League, behind the 35.71 per cent of Nottingham Forest's Chris Wood.

Gyokeres also took 327 touches in the opposition box, fewer than Mohamed Salah's Premier League high of 394, but way ahead of Antoine Semenyo's total of 211, Salah's nearest rival.

In terms of goalscoring, shot conversion, touches in the opposition box, and shots taken, Gyokeres significantly outperforms his new Arsenal team-mates.

Gyokeres v Arsenal's best performers

It doesn’t take a genius to work out this is good news for Arsenal.

Gyokeres is a high-quality finisher of chances; active in the penalty area, fast to loose balls, and deadly with a half-chance, as his 39 goals from an Expected Goals (xG) of 30.9 indicates.

Arsenal lacked this killer instinct far too often last season when faced against low blocks. In fact, compare their record when holding above 60 per cent possession and below 60 per cent, and the problem of having too much possession – of facing a defensive wall – is revealed as a serious issue.

Arsenal points-per-game average

The most significant reason Arsenal could not sustain a title challenge was their inability to find the net in crowded penalty areas. Gyokeres can quite literally provide the finishing touch to Arteta’s team.

2. Runs and carries can stop Arsenal from getting stuck in slow football

Being a clinical No 9 capable of bulldozing through tight spaces is only one side of the coin.

Gyokeres is also a crucial - and fascinating - point of departure for Arteta, who until now has favoured "false nines" like Havertz, who help to slow the game down.

The problem, as we’ve covered, is that it can leave Arsenal camped in the final third and attempting to pick the lock.

Consequently, Arsenal could do with more urgency and verticality to create chances before the opponent has time to settle into their defensive encampment.

As reported by The Athletic, data from SkillCorner shows that Gyokeres made 85 sprints behind the opposition line in 2024/25, which is more than double any other player in Portugal's Primeira Liga, and 24 more than the Premier League’s best, Chelsea's Nicolas Jackson, on 61.

He also ranked third in Portugal for dribbles, with 130, while his 133 progressive carries were a division-high, indicating a willingness to run with the ball at his feet.

Gyokeres v Arsenal's best performers

You will not find a more direct, line-breaking, in-behind striker in Europe.

It’s possible that, like Erling Haaland at Manchester City, this part of Gyokeres’ game will be curtailed, but it’s more likely that Arsenal will utilise those runs to attack faster when the opportunity arises.

Last season Arsenal ranked 11th for direct attacks, with 63, and their 35 fast breaks ranked 13th. Yet they scored eight goals from direct attacks, the fourth-most, and the third-highest from fast breaks, with nine goals.

Put simply, when they actually try to attack quickly, it works.

One way to overcome the problem of constantly drawing against low blocks is to sign a striker who can wriggle free to score in a congested area.

An even better way is to sign a striker who also makes runs for an early through-ball, solving the low block by stopping it from being formed in the first place.

3. Good link play and hard work

Gyokeres also offers creativity and smart one-touch link play that fits more neatly with Arteta’s tactical preferences than might be expected.

In fact, he is arguably even better in this regard than Havertz, as the stats suggest.

Gyokeres v Havertz compared

In the Arsenal squad last season, only Bukayo Saka, with 2.1, created more chances in open play per 90 minutes than the 1.9 of Gyokeres.

Put together with his famed hard work and good pressing – prerequisites to spearhead Ruben Amorim's Sporting – and a picture emerges of Gyokeres as a true all-rounder, a fact obscured by goalscoring numbers that hint at a simpler picture of an old-fashioned poacher.

Tall, strong, explosive in the dribble, a tidy finisher, and an intelligent passer - what more could Arsenal want?

Well, some top-level experience, perhaps.

Opta rates the Primeira Liga as the eighth-best league in Europe, behind the Premier League, LaLiga, Serie A, Ligue 1 and Serie A, plus the Belgian Jupiler Pro League and the English Championship, where Gyokeres hit 43 goals in 92 matches for Coventry City.

There are legitimate concerns that Premier League defenders won’t give him the same time or space, nor will they be beaten for pace in the same way.

Drawing comparisons with Nunez

This is where we bring up Darwin Nunez, who scored 26 goals in 28 Primeira Liga matches for Benfica in 2021/22 but is currently on 25 in 95 for Liverpool.

Even analysis of Gyokeres’ Champions League performances fails to bring clarity.

On the one hand, he scored six goals in eight matches in 2024/25, including a hat-trick against Man City. On the other, two of those goals against City were penalties.

Gyokeres could be the missing piece of the jigsaw; a player with both the goalscoring prowess to turn Arsenal draws into victories and with the speed and verticality to bring a new component to their attacking play.

But that will only be the case if his goalscoring brilliance at Sporting is the result of a late bloom, rather than Portugal being a step down in quality from life in the Championship.

The man himself will point to the Golden Boot rankings, designed specifically to account for difference in league quality.

Above him is only Mbappe, below are players such as Salah, Lewandowski and Kane. That, he would argue, is all the evidence you need.