The buzz around Viktor Gyökeres joining Arsenal has been huge. Fans are excited, expecting big things from the Swedish striker. But not everyone is buying into the hype. Troy Deeney, the 37-year-old former forward, has some serious doubts. He writes a column for ‘The Sun’ newspaper and believes Gyökeres might not be the game-changer people hope for.
Deeney started off by saying he’s not sure Gyökeres will score as many goals for Arsenal as everyone expects. He shared his frustration about new players getting put on a pedestal too quickly. He feels many people don’t get the huge difference between playing football in Portugal and playing for a top club like Arsenal, Manchester United, or Liverpool. Gyökeres’s numbers in Portugal are amazing, Deeney admitted. You can’t deny the goals he scored there, they’re right up there with Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. However, Deeney pointed out that Gyökeres got many chances because Sporting had so much control of the ball.
Deeney also wasn’t impressed with how Gyökeres played in pre-season games. He mentioned that the striker missed some chances. It seemed like the Arsenal jersey felt a lot heavier than his old Sporting one. There’s a lot of pressure, and people are thinking his arrival means the club will win the Premier League.
For that to happen, Gyökeres needs to score more than 20 goals, Deeney predicted. The former striker doesn’t think Gyökeres will score more goals than Erling Haaland, Mohamed Salah, or Alexander Isak. He believes Gyökeres will score some goals because he’s a good player. He might even get a couple of hat-tricks against teams like Leeds or Wolverhampton. But the big question for Deeney is in the important moments. Will he score at Anfield? Deeney isn’t so sure about that.
Deeney, now a football commentator, found it strange that Liverpool didn’t show interest in Gyökeres. Liverpool was looking for a striker. Deeney noted that Liverpool usually gets their signings right. He wondered if they knew something Arsenal didn’t.
Deeney actually played against Gyökeres when the Swede was at Coventry. He’d heard about Gyökeres’s “aura” back then. But Deeney didn’t see anything special when he played against him for Birmingham a few years ago. He didn’t leave the field thinking, ‘Oh my goodness, this guy is going to be a Premier League superstar.’ Instead, he saw a player who was inexperienced and caused a lot of problems, but also wasted many chances. And at Arsenal, Deeney stressed, you just can’t afford to do that.