Gyokeres the Arsenal answer? 'If there's a shooting drill, he wants to win it.'

Irish Examiner

a day ago

Dalibor Savic saw plenty of top talents come and go during his time coaching the youth sides at Swedish club Brommapojkarna, but says there is one thing that set new Arsenal striker Viktor Gyokeres apart from most.
Gyokeres has ended a long-running transfer saga by finally completing his move to Arsenal in a deal worth €63m plus another €10m in possible add-ons, putting pen to paper on a five-year contract.
Former head coach of the Brommapojkarna under-19 and under-21 sides, Savic coached Gyokeres during his coming through as a youngster. Other notable graduates from the club include Tottenham duo Dejan Kulusevski and Lucas Bergvall, as well as a host of other current and former Sweden internationals.
Savic admits Gyokeres was not the most technically gifted talent at the club as a teenager, but says the 27-year-old's mentality and desire is what has got him to this point.
'His biggest talent is that he's so determined and focused and stubborn,' Savic explains.
'And he doesn't give up, because many players maybe stop dreaming about Premier League when you reach the age of 27, but he keeps working for it and tries to be a better player every week and every day.
'Everybody knew that Viktor was going to be a top player, but reaching these clubs that we're talking about, the Premier League or Serie A or La Liga or Ligue 1, the top, top, top clubs, you can never predict that.
'I think that all of us coaches, we're just a small part of his football journey. We're just a small part of putting him in the right position to work with his strengths, trying to give him advice.
'But all the hard work comes from Viktor, with the extra training, with the extra determination, extra focus.'
Gyokeres moved to Brighton & Hove Albion after leaving his native Sweden but failed to break through at the club, and was loaned out to German side St Pauli, Swansea City and then Coventry City, where he would join permanently in 2021.
It was his performances in the Championship which earned him a move to Champions League club Sporting CP. There, he would rapidly establish himself as one of the top strikers in Europe, scoring 97 goals in 102 games for the club in all competitions.
'I think he made the right choice going to Portugal and going to one of the better clubs there, maybe the best club,' Savic says.
'I mean, if you score like 44 goals or whatever he did in one season, you're dominating the game.
'And with his physicality and always being in the box, finishing with the left foot, with the right foot. And of course, Sporting Lisbon is creating, I don't know, 15, 20 chances per game. He's probably going to score one or two per game.
'So I think it was wise for him to go to a minor league, but to a top club. If you remember Henrik Larsson, he went from Feyenoord to Celtic playing in the biggest and the best club in Scotland and grew as a player to be an important player and an important goal scorer.'
Arsenal's injury crisis paired with a shortage of attacking options led to boss Mikel Arteta having to play central midfielder Mikel Merino up front for a large stretch of the previous campaign, including in their Champions League semi-final clash with PSG in which they managed just one goal across the two legs.
Gyokeres has been brought in as the answer to Arsenal's shortage of goals compared with their rivals, with boss Mikel Arteta hoping he can provide the missing link which will take his side from nearly men to trophy winners.
Savic says Gyokeres' hunger to win, which was evident from such a young age, bodes well for the Gunners.
'When you have that mentality, as Viktor had, if we had a game and we lost it, he was mad, he was upset, he didn't like it and he always wanted to win the next game,' he said.
'I don't want to say he's not fun to be around, he's always fun to be around because he's a good teammate. I think he's humble, I think coaches like him, I think the other players like him, but he wants to win.
'If there's a shooting drill, he wants to win it. If it's a running drill, he wants to win it. So I think this mentality is what has taken him to the top level of football because I had a lot of talented players who'd stop working, you know, because they were talented, but they didn't have the mentality that you need to have to reach top level.'
The challenge now, Savic says, is for Gyokeres to show he is the world class talent he always dreamt he would be when he was playing for Brommapojkarna.
'Of course, everybody knows that Viktor is a top-level player, top striker in Europe right now. But the question is, is he a world-class player? And I think this is what he needs to prove by coming to Arsenal."