Arsenal should be breaking the bank to sign Viktor Gyokeres: Sporting CP goal machine is the missing piece for the Gunners' attack

Have we, as a sporting collective, become a little too obsessed with numbers and statistics? Probably, but for strikers, goals will forever be the bread and butter. These are not merely numbers, rather the crucial differentials in this low-scoring game of ours.

This season alone, Gyokeres has 33 goals in only 25 games for club and country. We haven't even reached December yet. And of course, you can take the scoring rate with a minor pinch of salt because of the lower level outside the continent's top domestic divisions and the top two divisions of the Nations League, but at some point you reach a terminal velocity for scoring. Gyokeres has somehow eclipsed even that, and is averaging goals at a ludicrous and almost unprecedented pace.

Gyokeres has outgrown Portugal and needs a fresh challenge, particularly while he still has this upward momentum and confidence flowing. Arsenal, meanwhile, could do with a dynamic scorer to lessen the burdens on Bukayo Saka and the recently returned Martin Odegaard. This makes too much sense already.

It helps Gyokeres' case for a blockbuster transfer that he also looks the part of a marquee striker. Since his days of being sent out on successive failed loans by Brighton, he's put on plenty of muscle and bulked all the way up - his before and after pictures mirror those of Chris Evans in 'Captain America' when undergoing the super-soldier experiment.

Gyokeres can throw his weight around both in and around the penalty area, though retains the technique and ball-carrying of forwards half his size. He is thundering yet graceful, a bull tiptoeing their way through the china shop.

It is this unique blend of styles, in addition to his obvious scoring prowess, that should be of interest to Arsenal, and it'll be interesting to see how he fares against two other man-mountains in William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes.

We can sit around and debate the merits of the Primeira Liga, but what should assure Arsenal and Gyokeres' other suitors of his pedigree is the success he endured before he jetted out to Portugal.

For two seasons there as a permanent player, Gyokeres was the star jewel of an extremely competitive Coventry City side who were a play-off final penalty shootout away from reaching the Premier League. The following year, without the Swede in the side, Mark Robins' men were cruelly denied a spot in the FA Cup final and challenged for promotion again. This was a proper team and Gyokeres was a proper player for them, a side deserving of a place at England's top table. Their status as a Championship club didn't reflect their peaks or their ceiling, though England's second-tier is now famous for helping the development of most of the nation's superstars regardless.

Little over a year removed from that stint in the East Midlands, Gyokeres then ran Manchester City ragged with a hat-trick in the Champions League to ignite Ruben Amorim's farewell tour, if you wanted any further proof of his ability to hang with the big boys. At this point, Gyokeres is as sure a thing to make the step up as any other player not already plying their trade in a top-five league.

The most sensible clubs realise that sometimes your transfer shortlists shouldn't be extensive. When Liverpool failed to sign Virgil van Dijk in the summer of 2017, they didn't move on to another target, rather they waited to try again in the next window. They knew they had to get an upgrade in a core position correct and that their £75m couldn't go to waste.

Arsenal, perhaps, didn't sign a striker in 2023 or 2024 as they felt the market was too volatile. There wasn't a sure-fire upgrade to be had at a reasonable price, nor a talent so indisputably brilliant that they thought it'd be worth their while to pay over the odds for. Ivan Toney's betting ban and outward desire to leave Brentford for anywhere must have put Arteta and co off, while Victor Osimhen's demands were too extravagant for even Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea to match.

There is now the right candidate available for the Gunners to hedge their bets on and the excuses for not doing so will wear thin, particularly if another team lands Gyokeres and he meets expectations.

Despite the Premier League coming down hard on clubs who push the limit on Profit & Sustainability Rules (PSR), Arsenal aren't in any real danger of a breach and they probably could have pushed the boat out for a lavish signing last summer if they really wanted to.

The decision to part with £105m for Rice - and beat City of all teams to his signature in the process - was a landmark moment in the Gunners' history. Prior to that, the most Arsenal had spent on a player was £72m on Nicolas Pepe in 2019, a transfer and experience which seemingly scorched the club's fingertips so violently they didn't spend upwards of £50m on any player for nearly four years after. They were never the ideal destination, either. Rice had to be a hit and there was little to suggest he'd be anything but.

Arsenal can't afford to let Edu's surprise departure as sporting director force them into a retreat back into their shells, rather trust they can still make the right decisions and astute acquisitions without him. Gyokeres' supposed lowered price-tag of £63m isn't even a deal which should stretch and distort their budget, more a shrewd piece of business waiting to happen.

Gyokeres is not the only Sweden striker on Arsenal's radar, with Newcastle frontman Alexander Isak also said to be of interest having long been linked with a switch to the Emirates Stadium. Aesthetically, Isak does a decent enough impression of Thierry Henry, even wearing the No.14 on Tyneside to boot, and his thumping header in a 1-0 win against the Gunners earlier this autumn was enough proof for some that he should be the striker they nab.

There isn't too much to split Gyokeres and Isak, though the latter's patchy injury record is a concern that should put the Arsenal hierarchy off to some degree. He wouldn't be a bad signing, though could easily stray into the unreliable bracket. Already this season has Arteta felt the blow of a thinning squad and he could do with some assurance that whoever his next major signing is will be able to simply stay on the pitch.

Availability isn't necessarily the best ability, despite the recent uptick in that phrase and its peculiar popularity, but it is still important, and Gyokeres is almost unbeatable in that regard. This season alone, he has played in every possible match for Sporting and Sweden, while he has failed to feature for the full 90 minutes on a mere six occasions. He has gone his whole career without a single major or niggling injury and has made over 350 career appearances by the age of 26.

Arsenal have been waiting, and waiting, and waiting for the right man to make themselves known in their pursuit of a striker. Gyokeres is ready. Better yet, he was ready even a few months ago, and the north Londoners better hope he doesn't plunge their season back towards the tipping point of crisis on Tuesday.