When Swansea signed a ahead on mortgage in October 2020, it didn’t take lengthy for pleasure amongst gamers and followers to show to doubt and confusion.
If the ball was performed to him, too usually he would fail to retain it. Given the prospect to discover a team-mate, he would often select a member of the opposition as a substitute. Swans gamers have been quickly exchanging involved glances. ‘Who is that this man?’ was the final gist.
‘This man’ was Viktor Gyokeres, one of the prolific forwards on the earth, who’s now closing in on a £70million transfer to Arsenal.
Gyokeres had been excellent below Ruben Amorim in just a little greater than a season collectively at Sporting Lisbon and a transfer to one in every of Europe’s top-five leagues at all times appeared inevitable as he continued to fireside in targets at a unprecedented charge after the Portuguese’s departure final November.
At 27, Gyokeres, who was in a long-term relationship with fellow Sweden worldwide Amanda Nilden, is a star of the worldwide sport.
Viktor Gyokeres has change into one of the prolific forwards in world soccer
Mikel Arteta has been on the hunt for a scientific striker this summer time to tae his staff to the subsequent degree
It’s doubtlessly a make-or-break season for the Gunners who’ve did not win main silverware since 2020
He netted 39 targets in 33 Primeira Liga video games final time period, six in eight within the Champions League and 9 in six within the Nations League for Sweden, the place he has a doubtlessly fearsome partnership with Alexander Isak. His total report for Sporting is 97 in 102 matches, plus 28 assists. Gyokeres’ aim celebration, the place he covers half of his face together with his palms to resemble a masks, has had followers all over the place copying him and debating its origin. Gyokeres has delighted in preserving them guessing.
It’s all a far cry from that non permanent transfer to Swansea from Brighton 4 years in the past. Younger gamers must sink or swim throughout their early mortgage durations and in south Wales, Gyokeres most definitely didn’t swim.
‘He regarded out of his depth,’ one former team-mate informed Mail Sport. ‘You’d play the ball into him and it might bounce off him. He’d give it away. He simply didn’t look as much as it.
‘First loans could be a wake-up name. Most gamers breeze by youth and Underneath-21 soccer and so they suppose the subsequent step will occur as a matter in fact. Viktor obtained into males’s soccer and realised ‘I’ve obtained some work to do right here.’
Fortunately, Gyokeres had Chris Badlan on his facet. Badlan is now head of recruitment at Aberdeen however held an identical position at Coventry from 2018-2022 and had been conscious of Gyokeres from his time within the Underneath-17 facet at Swedish membership IF Brommapojkarna.
Gyokeres moved to Brighton after which switched to German membership St Pauli on mortgage for the 2019-20 marketing campaign, the place he actually began to catch the attention of Badlan.
‘They usually used him on the left wing however he would nonetheless rating from that place,’ Badlan recollects. ‘He match the profile of what we wished – a strong, athletic ahead who would stretch the play.’
Gyokeres scored seven in 28 video games in Germany but when he returned to England, he nonetheless discovered himself caught on the runway. That tough spell at Swansea introduced only one aim in 12 and when he joined Coventry, initially on mortgage, in January 2021, Gyokeres’ performances have been equally unremarkable.
A former Sky Blues participant admitted: ‘He didn’t get going at first however the membership nonetheless paid £1m to signal him from Brighton and we have been asking one another ‘Why have they carried out that?’
Gyokeres netted 39 targets in 33 Primeira Liga video games final time period, six in eight within the Champions League and 9 in six within the Nations League for Sweden
Gyokeres struggled to make a breakthrough at Brighton however went on to thrive at Coventry
Gyokeres scored 44 targets in 116 video games for Coventry and was tracked by Premier League golf equipment
‘However when he got here again for pre-season in 2021, it regarded like he had been within the gymnasium all summer time. Abruptly he was a monster. The whole lot simply adopted from there.
‘He scored 18 that 12 months and it was a little bit of a shock he didn’t depart on the finish of it. The season, he helped get Coventry to the play-off last.’
Gyokeres belongs to the HCM steady, who symbolize different high Swedish abilities like Hugo Larsson and Sebastian Nanasi, in addition to Barcelona and Netherlands midfielder Frenkie de Jong.
Even throughout his early days at Coventry, Gyokeres had a transparent concept of the place he was heading. When curiosity in him began to develop, recruitment workers on the membership have been informed that Gyokeres would take into account gives solely from established Premier League golf equipment or high-level groups in Italy, Spain, Germany, France or Portugal. ‘If anybody else calls, I’m not ,’ Gyokeres is believed to have knowledgeable them.
‘His mentality is off the charts,’ explains Badlan. ‘Even at that stage, he had his profession mapped out. He was a bit untidy as a participant again then however he’s so robust in his thoughts.
‘The one difficulty is likely to be if he goes just a few video games with out scoring. He’s so decided that he can find yourself beating himself up a bit however quickly sufficient, he’ll return to fundamentals and get again on observe.
‘I spoke to numerous Premier League golf equipment about him. My feeling was that whereas he may not be able to go straight into somebody’s first staff as a No1 centre-forward, he’d attain that degree inside six months, as a result of he’s so robust mentally.’
Straight speaking and with a degree of confidence that falls on simply the best facet of vanity, Gyokeres is nonetheless described as ‘ team-mate’ by those that performed with him in Sky Blue.
The Sweden worldwide had his coronary heart set on a transfer to hitch Sporting Lisbon after leaving Coventry
That put him within the Champions League highlight, quite than enjoying for a struggling membership
‘He was by no means a recluse,’ says one. ‘Should you organised a social or an evening out, he’d at all times be there. However in coaching, you’d see how dedicated he was to enhancing his sport.
‘Once we performed small-sided video games, he hated dropping. He was fairly demanding of the coaches. If he felt he hadn’t obtained one thing he wanted from a session, he would ask for extra ending apply or to practise various kinds of finishes.’
Gyokeres scored 44 targets in 116 video games for Coventry and a few of these golf equipment who might transfer for him quickly may have had him for much lower than they might want to pay in the present day.
So what put them off? First, the value tag. Coventry proprietor Doug King had made it clear to all suitors that he wouldn’t hearken to gives of lower than £20m. Second, Gyokeres’ contract had solely 12 months to run. Why pay massive cash now if the participant can agree a free switch the next winter?
Third, Gyokeres had informed senior figures on the membership that his coronary heart was set on Sporting. Everton, Wolves, Brentford and West Ham have been all monitoring the state of affairs however Gyokeres had eyes just for Lisbon. His considering would certainly have modified, although, had one in every of England’s elite golf equipment made a critical transfer.
Gyokeres and his advisors had found out that if he moved to a struggling Premier League membership, he might finish the season again within the Championship together with his fame diminished. By transferring to Portugal, he was putting himself centre stage in each home and European competitors.
‘Although he’s fast, he doesn’t stand out for his pace in the way in which a participant like Kylian Mbappe does,’ says one other former Coventry colleague. ‘What units him aside is how he combines tempo with aggression.
‘He’ll throw his physique in, throw his shoulder in. If he’s in a race with a defender and it’s 50-50 or he’s not favorite, he’ll nonetheless ensure that he wins it.
Gyokeres continued to go from energy to energy below the teaching of former Sporting boss Amorim
There stays scepticism about if he can ship for a Champions League-level English membership
Gyokeres revealed his aim celebration is a nod to Bane, the villain in The Darkish Knight Rises
‘He’s sensible at pinning a centre-back after which rolling him. As soon as he has obtained you in that spot he’ll maintain you off and even when he can’t run away from you, it’s arduous to get the ball off him. Should you’re marking him, give him a yard of area and check out to not get too tight.’
If Gyokeres lands within the Premier League, it is going to be fascinating. Regardless of his scoring report in Portugal, there’s nonetheless some scepticism about whether or not he can ship often for a Champions League-level English membership. Although FC Porto, Benfica and Sporting can compete with any membership throughout the continent, the Portuguese high flight lacks the depth of England’s.
One factor seems sure: ought to Gyokeres return to England, we’ll see that ‘masks’ celebration once more. Gyokeres revealed final 12 months that it was a tribute to Bane, the villain in 2012 movie The Darkish Knight Rises, performed by Tom Hardy.
‘No person cared who I used to be till I placed on the masks,’ is one in every of Bane’s signature traces. Gyokeres used the quote in an Instagram put up, alongside a video of his targets from the 2023-24 marketing campaign. Premier League famous person or flat-track bully? The reality is about to be revealed.
