Viktor Gyokeres struggled on his Arsenal debut against Manchester United on Sunday. The 27-year-old, who signed for the Gunners in a £55 million plus £8.5m add-ons deal from Sporting CP last month, played 60 minutes at Old Trafford before being replaced by Kai Havertz.
Gyokeres had just 21 touches, completed nine passes and didn’t register a single shot on his Arsenal bow. Roy Keane was critical of the Sweden international after his first outing for Mikel Arteta’s side, saying that he “didn’t look sharp”, while Daniel Sturridge echoed his comments.
It’s safe to suggest that there is a great deal of pressure on Gyokeres to perform and live up to the hype after the Gunners spent the first half of the summer chasing his signature.
Should Gyokeres fail to do that, the Arsenal board may regret allowing one striker to leave for just £4m last summer, especially as now he is valued at more than the club’s new No.14.
The player in question is Monaco front man Mika Biereth. The London-born Denmark international spent three years on the books at Arsenal after signing from Fulham in 2021.
Biereth scored 12 goals for the Under 21s in his first season in the academy, the same as the first-team’s top scorer Bukayo Saka. He made the senior matchday squad four times – all in January 2022 – but didn’t feature in any of those matches. They were the FA Cup third round exit to Nottingham Forest, both legs of the Carabao Cup semi-final defeat against Liverpool and the 0-0 draw with Burnley in the Premier League.
But the striker never got a look in again. He spent time out on loan at RKC Waalwijk, Motherwell and Strum Graz before Arsenal decided to sell Biereth last summer. He signed for Sturm in a deal worth £4m.
After scoring 14 times in 25 appearances during the first half of the 2024/25 season, Monaco decided to swoop in and sign Biereth for £13m in January. He continued his fine form into the latter end of the campaign, as he struck 13 in 19 for his new club to end with a combined 27 goals across 44 matches last term.
Now, Biereth’s transfer value has risen from £62m to as high as £64m, according to CIES Football Observatory. That is higher than Gyokeres’ current worth, after the club spent £55m as a base fee to sign him from Sporting.
Biereth started for Monaco in their Ligue 1 curtain-raiser on Saturday but failed to score as he was substituted in the 80th minute in his side’s 3-1 win against Le Havre. Monaco, who are in the Champions League again, face Lille in their next league game on Sunday.
