Ian Wright has brushed off concerns over Viktor Gyokeres’ lack of experience in a top league and is giving Arsenal’s marquee summer signing the ‘benefit of the doubt’ because of his ‘attitude’ and ‘mentality’.
The Gunners faced criticism from fans and pundits alike for their failure to bring in an out-and-out centre-forward last term as the club finished a fifth straight season without any major silverware.
While Kai Havertz and Mikel Merino both enjoyed some success in the false nine role, Arsenal’s hierarchy were in agreement that signing a striker should be their priority heading into the summer transfer window.
And after weeks of talk and speculation, the north Londoners officially announced that they had beaten Manchester United to the signing of Gyokeres last month, in a deal worth £55million plus £8.5m in add-ons.
Gyokeres netted 54 times in 52 games to help Sporting win a domestic double last season and there are hopes the 27-year-old can have transformative effect on Mikel Arteta’s squad by bringring his extraordinary goalscoring exploits to the Premier League arena.
But there has also been some skepticism surrounding Gyokeres’ ability to make the step up when against defences of genuine quality, with the Sweden international yet to test himself in one of Europe’s top five leagues.
Legendary ex-Arsenal striker Wright said he was reminded of his early days at Arsenal when discussing Gyokeres on the SDS podcast, with similar questions asked following his then club-record transfer from Crystal Palace in 1991.
‘I spent five seasons in the First Division scoring goals and obviously there’s a lot of people looking at you all the time. There was a lot of talk around me and a lot of interest,’ Wright explained.
‘People start to say, “It’s going to happen”, and then Arsenal came. Obviously, everybody knows the link with David Rocastle, we grew up on the same estate.
‘But I remember when I went to sign, I went home and watched the six o’clock news and they flicked to the streets and they’re saying, “What are we signing him for? We’ve got [Paul] Merson, we’ve got [Kevin] Campbell, we’ve got [Alan] Smith and we’ve got a young guy, Andy Cole, there as well. Why are we signing him? He’s only played in the First Division!”, and bro, I was watching it and you just get hot.
‘I was petrified and when I went there. They were champions two out of the last three years, but what I realised more than anything else was I had gone to a place where I’d gone to another level.’
Wright added: ‘I was playing in games, I’d score two goals and I must have had a maximum of five touches because people are making runs, people are doing different things, I’m not making as much work as I did at Palace.
‘What you realise is that it’s the same thing with Gyokeres, it’s the same thing.’
Wright has been encouraged by what previous managers have had to say about Gyokeres’ work ethic and insists the Swede’s limited experience at the very top ‘doesn’t matter’.
‘I heard Mark Robins from Coventry say that every time Gyokeres trained, he looked like somebody in a rush, in a hurry, he needs to make up time and I totally got that because once I got to Arsenal I realised I was in a place where I could make up time,’ Wright continued.
‘People are talking about the league Gyokeres played in and the fact he doesn’t score against this kind of team, he only scores penalties, this and that… it doesn’t matter.
‘What I’ve heard and what I loved that I heard from Gyokeres is that man wants to be there. I wanted to be there because I knew once I got in amongst these guys and they create these chances, I’m going to take them. All I was focussed on was hitting targets and taking chances.’
Wright is confident Gyokeres will score goals for Arsenal, even if it takes time for the forward to find his feet on his return to English football.
‘If he starts the season and he doesn’t score for a couple of games, it’s going to come,’ he went on.
‘With Gyokeres, I can see the mentality and if he’s anything like I was, he himself can’t wait because he knows what he’s going into.
‘The thing is that he’s got competition. He’s got competition which is important with Kai. I had it with Smith, I mentioned them.
‘He’s a guy that has initiated the move, his agent took a cut of the pay, the man has done everything to try and get there… that’s enough for me to say: I’m putting my marker on him. I have to, he’s travelling the same path.
‘He’s somebody that I’m thinking to myself: if it happens for him, brilliant.
‘You can look at [Rasmus] Hojlund, you can look at [Darwin] Nunez and I’m not being negative about them, but you’re taking a chance. It’s a lot of money, but there are question marks over everybody.’
According to Wright, it will be a ‘different kind of scenario’ at Arsenal should Gyokeres hit the ground running and translate his form from Portugal into Premier League football.
‘We were 17 goals behind Liverpool last season and seven behind Manchester City the season before, but in both seasons, defensively, we conceded less, so we need goals,’ he said.
‘If you get an actual striker, when you look at the goals, seven goals, it’s so close. It’s so close.
‘So we’ve now got a striker. Whatever he cost, the fact is that you are taking a chance on that, you’re hoping this is going to work out.
‘The only thing you can look at is his attitude towards where he’s going into and what he’s trying to do now and I like it. I like what I see from him.
‘That’s why I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt because once it starts happening, we’re talking about a different kind of scenario with Arsenal.’
Wright sees no reason why a ‘monster’ like Gyokeres cannot be an instant hit at Arsenal when remembering the immediate success Erling Haaland enjoyed at Manchester City.
‘What you have to have faith in his your work ethic and what you’re capable of doing,’ he said.
‘I’ve watched him take chances. People talk about penalties, whatever they want to talk about… but I’ve watched him take chances and the goal doesn’t change.
‘Obviously, goalkeepers might be better, but the goal doesn’t change, the diameters of the goal, the angles you’re coming to shoot at don’t change.
‘Once you tighten all that up, we’ve seen what can happen when you get a striker who is a monster who wants to score, we saw what happened with Erling Haaland.’
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