'Heavy' Viktor Gyokeres torn apart by Portuguese press after 'non-existent' Premier League debut for Arsenal

Gyokeres started for Arsenal at Old Trafford on Sunday following his big-money move from Sporting but was hauled off on the hour after an ineffective showing. The new signing failed to manage a single shot against Manchester United and completed just four of nine passes as Arsenal ground out a 1-0 victory in their first Premier League game of the season.

Gyokeres' performance did not go unnoticed back in Portugal. The local press, who watched Gyokeres hit an astonishing 97 goals in 102 matches during his time with Sporting, were clearly unimpressed with his debut outing in the Premier League for Mikel Arteta's side.

"This is the Premier League, Gyökeres," was the headline from Portuguese newspaper A Bola after the match. The report claimed Gyokeres had a day "to forget and added the striker "did not enchant: very little, non-existent". Arsenal's big-money buy was also described as being "without rhythm and heavy" and "completely out of place in a team with very different principles of play to Sporting".

A Bola summed up Gyokeres' performance by highlighting a moment shortly before he was replaced by Kai Havertz: "At 52 minutes he received space on the left to do what he likes most… but the ball escaped, he lost it and ended up committing a foul, to the great delight of Manchester United fans."

Manager Arteta offered his thoughts on Gyokeres' debut after the game. He told reporters: “Well he did a lot of things very good. You can tell especially in our high press and rhythm that we demand, that especially in the first half we were giving a bit too much time. It is something that we have to work on him, especially there.

“Then in the final action situation, he did not have that many chances to do that, because in the previous action, we had to play that last ball and the line was standing still with 40 metres to play. We did not manage to put the ball through to exploit his quality. But overall, coming away to Man United, winning your first game with Arsenal, is a good start.”

Arsenal and Gyokeres are back in Premier League action on Saturday against Leeds United at the Emirates.