It’s been an interesting summer for Arsenal so far this year.
Andrea Berta and Co have been very active in the transfer market, bringing in six new faces for Mikel Arteta so far.
Undoubtedly, the most exciting addition has to be Viktor Gyokeres, who was a lean, mean goalscoring machine for Sporting CP last season, and looked good in the club’s final pre-season game.
However, while he was part of the team that picked up three points away to Manchester United on Sunday afternoon, he didn’t look anything like the goal threat we saw last season.
While he’ll likely only get better as he gets used to the Premier League, Arsenal could help speed things along by signing another international ace they’ve been linked with this summer, an international who could potentially help Gyokeres hit Erling Haaland-esque numbers.
While Gyokeres looked impressive against Athletic Bilbao in the Emirates Cup, scoring a header and coming incredibly close to getting another, he didn’t make a great impression on his Premier League debut on Sunday.
Granted, it was a bad day at the office for most of the side, apart from David Raya and some of the defence, but with the eyes of the league watching him to see if he could translate his sensational goalscoring form from Portugal to England, the Swedish marksman failed.
For example, in his 60 minutes of action, the Stockholm-born international failed to take a single shot – the first time that has happened in a competitive game since his days at Coventry City – was unable to complete a single dribble, played no key passes, lost ten duels and took just 22 touches, which was 25 fewer than Raya between the sticks.
Now, in his defence, there were a couple of occasions when he drove out wide before firing a ball back towards the centre in reasonably dangerous positions only for nobody to get on the end of it, but by and large, it was a debut to forget.
However, given his form over the last few years, Gyokeres will surely find his shooting boots sooner or later, and for their part, Arsenal could bring in a particular player who might be able to help him reach Haaland-esque numbers: Rodrygo.
Among all the attacking players Arsenal have been linked with this summer, Rodrygo has arguably been the most exciting, and while he is now being touted for a move to Manchester City, there is supposedly still a chance the Gunners can secure his services for around £78m.
Now, on top of being an exceptional signing in his own right, why would the Real Madrid star be able to help Gyokeres’ goalscoring numbers explode this season?
Well, the first reason is that he’s already proven himself to be a reliable source of goals and assists with the Spanish giants over the last couple of years.
For example, across the 23/24 to 24/25 seasons, the “world-class superstar,” as dubbed by Luka Modrić, has found the back of the net on 31 occasions and provided 20 assists in 105 appearances, totalling 7159 minutes.
In other words, the often “unstoppable” dynamo, as dubbed by Madrid columist Kiyan Sobhani, was averaging a goal involvement every 2.05 games, or every 140.37 minutes in that period, which is made all the more impressive by the fact he was playing everywhere but his preferred position of left-wing.
Just imagine the numbers the Swedish goal-machine would be able to put up with the 24-year-old to his left, instead of Gabriel Martinelli, and Bukayo Saka to his right – they could be Haaland-esque if things click.
Moreover, when we take a look at the former Santos gem’s underlying numbers, it quickly becomes clear that he is elite at getting the ball into dangerous areas through carrying, which for a traditional number nine like Gyokeres could be perfect.
For example, FBref ranked him in the top 2% of attacking midfielders and wingers in La Liga last season for carries into the final third, the top 3% for touches in the attacking third, the top 6% for total carrying distance, the top 10% for carries and more, all per 90.
Ultimately, with his record from the last two years being what it is, we know Gyokeres can score goals at a rate few can match, and to help him get close to those numbers again, Arsenal need to bring in a world-class left-winger like Rodrygo.
