Why Arsenal won't stand in Viktor Gyokeres' way if he decides to leave the club

[p]The North Londoners jumped ahead of the pack to sign the Swedish hitman in the summer of 2025 for a not insignificant £65.3m after he had enjoyed a hugely productive spell at [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/sporting-cp/tljXuHBC/"]Sporting[/a].[/p][h2][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/gyokeres-viktor/zaBZ1xIk/"]Gyokeres[/a] hadn't played in a top league before joining [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/arsenal/hA1Zm19f/"]Arsenal[/a][/h2][p]After scoring 21 goals and providing three assists in his first season, helping to fire the Gunners to a long-overdue Premier League title and coming within a whisker of their maiden Champions League, you'd be forgiven for thinking that Gyokeres' capture was a masterstroke from Mikel Arteta and the Arsenal board.[/p][p]However, scratch the surface, and there's a lot more to his situation than first meets the eye. Why else would there seem to be a genuine need to offload him at the earliest possible opportunity?[/p][embed guid="718c54bb-714d-4374-a50d-5f7009b46659" url="https://x.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1949168083777798199?lang=en" social-type="twitter" /][p]It's worth dwelling on the fact that the striker had never actually played in one of Europe's top five leagues before pitching up at the Emirates Stadium.[/p][p]His time at [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/brighton/2XrRecc3/"]Brighton[/a] spanned just eight games, but all were either in the Carabao Cup or FA Cup, and not in the Premier League.[/p][image alt="Viktor Gyokeres - Recent career stats" id="95a43c3f-d93c-49bf-97af-d72e528b59c1" credit-line="Flashscore" guid="d663b1b2-6509-4456-bf02-a6404e0b8d94" original-width="2160" original-height="2702" /][p]Similarly, though he was the main man at [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/coventry/GOvB22xg/"]Coventry City[/a], before Sporting took him to Portugal, it was the Championship rather than the EPL that he was doing the business in.[/p][p]With the greatest respect, there's no comparison between the first and second tiers of English football now, and the gap between the two is starting to become an almighty chasm.[/p][h2]Worst passer at Arsenal[/h2][p]Whilst no one can question Gyokeres' scoring record, it's the rest of his contributions which have been found wanting, and there's a reason why Arteta now sees the fit-again [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/havertz-kai/rH8BZWiI/"]Kai Havertz[/a] as his preferred central striker.[/p][p]In a team that has long been known for the consistently excellent way in which passes are made and completed, the Swede's awful showing in this area is something that has really shown up his limitations.[/p][image alt="Viktor Gyokeres' passes - Premier League 2025/26" id="d85b2005-6e28-45b9-8a75-8711b8b7c26a" credit-line="Opta by Stats Perform" guid="d350b5ea-0052-4916-b1cd-3571801dbb05" original-width="768" original-height="576" /][p]In total, he's made just 515 passes since joining the club, with only 331 of them finding their target, for a 64.27% completion statistic.[/p][p]That is by far the worst in the entire Arsenal squad, and to give some perspective, teammate [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/rice-declan/zkQ8Cm6n/"]Declan Rice[/a] has made 3,495 passes in the same time frame, completing 3,093 of them for an 88.5% completion.[/p][h2]Awful in one-on-one duels[/h2][p]Even if one agrees with the fact that a centre-forward's main role is to score goals, his associative play has to come a reasonably close second.[/p][p]Havertz's figures in terms of his passing since the beginning of last season are on par with Gyokeres, but he has played just 31 games compared to his teammate's 60, and just 1,596 cumulative minutes, whereas the Swede has 3,686 under his belt. [/p][p]Given Gyokeres' strength, one might expect him to excel with regard to his one-on-ones, which would at least redress the balance a little and take the focus away from those areas of work where he hasn't performed well.[/p][image alt="Viktor Gyokeres' radar graphic - Premier League 2025/26" id="2120bc49-8f31-45d0-a597-e8645a062a45" credit-line="Opta by Stats Perform" guid="7102c4b9-fdbd-4aa8-987f-e3f16e9089ea" original-width="768" original-height="576" /][p]Unfortunately, here too it's been nothing short of a disaster.[/p][p]Of the 362 ground duels he's contested - the fourth most of any Arsenal player - he's won only 122, for a 33.7% success rate. Once again, that's the worst showing in the first-team squad.[/p][p]Aerially, and perhaps even more surprisingly, Gyokeres' output is even worse. Only 45 of 142 aerial duels have been won, which is a travesty for a player of his stature.[/p][h2]Poor success with tackles[/h2][p]At least if he showed a bit more effort, that too could help others see things in his favour, but, unbelievably, he's only attempted eight tackles in over a year of being with the club, winning five.[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/tzolis-christos/484Acu9H/"]Christos Tzolis[/a], who joined the club this summer, has already attempted seven and won six, to give even more perspective on how badly Gyokeres is doing, with reports now suggesting that the player and his representatives want out of the club.[/p][image alt="Viktor Gyokeres' recent player ratings" id="4b6cab77-f04b-4c22-a2e5-9ba5ba7b5d47" credit-line="Flashscore" guid="0f88ad58-0475-4a15-9d17-1c503945809f" original-width="2160" original-height="2702" /][p]One can't imagine Arteta standing in the player's way, but for a club who are normally so spot on with their purchases, it beggars belief that they would have signed a player with no previous experience at the top level in the first place.[/p][p]By getting their fingers burned so badly, they're not likely to make the same mistake again.[/p][p]As for Gyokeres, the fact that Saudi clubs appear to be the frontrunners for his services tells you everything about where his career is heading now.[/p][infobox id="8a8311c3-81b3-440e-8b49-36091db073d1" /]