Jamie Carragher sends warning to new Arsenal star with ‘hot take’ prediction | Football
Jamie Carragher has issued a warning to Viktor Gyokeres and admits Arsenal’s £64m summer signing is ‘not the easiest on the eye’.
Gyokeres has endured a mixed start to his Arsenal career following a big-money summer move from Sporting Lisbon.
The 27-year-old enjoyed two sensational seasons in Portugal, scoring a staggering 97 goals in 102 games and winning back-to-back league titles.
Gyokeres opened his account for Arsenal with a brace in the 5-1 thrashing over Leeds United but was less effective against Manchester United and Liverpool.
For a player with 15 goals in 28 international appearances, it was also a surprise Gyokeres failed to get on the scoresheet in Sweden’s World Cup qualifiers against Kosovo and Slovenia during the international break.
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Carragher says it is too early in the season to ‘judge’ players but admits Gyokeres has not been ‘easy on the eye’ at the start of his Arsenal career.
While Arsenal spent £64m to sign Gyokeres, Carragher is also ‘convinced’ he will drop below Kai Havertz in Mikel Arteta’s pecking order for the ‘biggest games’.
Havertz led the line for Arsenal for much of the last two seasons and Carragher can see Arteta turning to the German for ‘big games’ once he returns from the treatment room.
A knee injury ruled Havertz out for the games against Leeds and Liverpool and the 26-year-old is not expected to return for another month after undergoing surgery.
‘Now you’ve brought Gyokeres up,’ Carragher said on The Overlap. ‘We talked before about not judging players after three games.
Will Viktor Gyokeres succeed at Arsenal?
Viktor Gyokeres has widely been described as the final piece of the jigsaw for an Arsenal side that have come agonisingly close to winning the Premier League. But the same was said about Romelu Lukaku upon his return to Chelsea in 2021 and we know how that worked out.
Gyokeres’ stats for Sporting were incredible but Darwin Nunez enjoyed similar success in Portugal before underwhelming in the Premier League. It’s taken a fair while for Gyokeres, 27, to earn a move to one of Europe’s top five leagues.
This time two years ago, in fact, he had just spent his fourth successive season in the Championship, scoring a respectable but far from remarkable 21 goals in 46 games.
He’s an upgrade on Kai Havertz but don’t expect mind-blowing returns from a player who has been branded a ‘gamble’ by the likes of Paul Scholes and Gary Lineker. ‘I don’t think he’s the guy,’ Rio Ferdinand even said shortly after his £64m move to north London was announced. Mikel Arteta doesn’t get too many signings wrong but it was him, remember, who pushed to sign Raheem Sterling last summer.
Arsenal were torn between signing Gyokeres or Benjamin Sesko earlier in the summer. Time will tell if they made the right decision.
Louis Sealey, Metro Deputy Sports Editor
‘But there was a lot of talk before he came in with people saying he wasn’t quite good enough despite his amazing goalscoring record.
‘We’ve only seen him for three games and he’s got two goals but he’s not the easiest on the eye, is he? He’s not.
‘I’m still convinced that when Kai Havertz is fit, he will play in the biggest games. That’s my hot take.’
Former Premier League manager Alan Pardew described Gyokeres’ subdued performance against Liverpool before the international break as ‘concerning’.
But Sky Sports pundit and Rangers legend Kris Boyd expects ‘absolute animal’ Gyokeres to come good at Arsenal and even outperform new Liverpool and Manchester United signings Hugo Ekitike and Benjamin Sesko.
‘I have always been a huge fan of Viktor Gyokeres, and I believe that he will have the most success out of these three players,’ Boyd told Best New Bingo Sites.
‘I have been a fan of his since he was at Coventry, and the way he has been firing in goals for Sporting over the past few years has been incredible to see.
‘That kind of form was always going to earn him a move to a big club, and he’s landed at Arsenal, which I think is a great club for him.
‘If you look at the size of him, he’s an absolute animal of a striker, a proper powerhouse to lead the line for a club that has been short of a striker for years.
‘He will play the majority of games for Arsenal this season if he stays fit, and I fancy him to score plenty of goals.’
Gyokeres and Arsenal return to Premier League action on Saturday against Nottingham Forest, who have just sacked manager Nuno Espirito Santo.
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Jamie Carragher sends warning to new Arsenal star with ‘hot take’ prediction | Football
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