If this season has proven anything for Arsenal, it’s that they desperately need another striker in the team.
A combination of lacklustre finishing and a torrent of injuries to key offensive players has left the Gunners 15 points off Liverpool in the Premier League.
Moreover, as things stand, the Reds have scored 17 goals more than Mikel Arteta’s side, which is something that desperately needs to be addressed in the summer.
Fortunately, that’s something the club appear to be working on, as, over the last week or so, their supposed interest in Viktor Gyokeres has seriously intensified, even if they already have a player worth millions more than him in the squad.
How much Arsenal have to pay for Gyokeres
Arsenal were reportedly interested in Gyokeres at points last summer, but it’s really been since new Sporting Director Andrea Berta turned up that things seem to be heating up regarding the Swedish superstar.
Moreover, while there remains some disagreement over the exact price that Sporting CP might demand for their prolific striker once the window opens, a recent report from The Athletic has claimed that it will likely be somewhere between £60m and £70m.
While the upper figure would undoubtedly represent a significant financial investment from the North Londoners, it would be hard to argue that it’s not a reasonable valuation from the Portuguese giants.
For example, since moving to Lisbon in 2023, the former Coventry City star has made 100 appearances for the club, totalling 8207 minutes, in which he has found the back of the net 95 times and provided 28 assists.
In other words, the Stockholm-born “powerhouse,” as dubbed by analyst Ben Mattinson, has averaged 1.23 goal involvements per game since moving to Lisbon, or one every 66.72 minutes, which is frankly absurd.
Appearances
50
50
Minutes
4169′
4038′
Goals
43
52
Assists
15
13
Goal Involvements per Match
1.16
1.3
Minutes per Goal Involvement
71.87
62.12′
In all, it’s not hard to see why Arsenal are so interested in signing Gyokeres this year, although even if he joins for £70m, he’ll be competing with someone with an even higher valuation next season: Kai Havertz.
How much Kai Havertz is currently worth
Yes, believe it or not, the player in question is none other than Kai Havertz.
The former Chelsea star joined Arsenal for around £65m in the summer of 2023 but was then placed in the CIES Football Observatory’s top 100 most valuable players in world football earlier this year, with a staggering valuation of €130m, which converts to about £109m.
Now, we know that for some of you, that will seem like an absurd number, and while it is probably a little inflated, it would be hard to argue that the German international hasn’t improved his reputation and standing in the game since his initial move two years ago, so perhaps a fairer price tag would be somewhere in between.
With that said, and while he might still divide opinion, the “magnificent” footballer, as dubbed by talent scout Jacek Kulig, has been a handy player for the Gunners, especially since moving up top halfway through last season.
Moreover, prior to his injury in February, the Aachen-born poacher was actually enjoying a decent enough campaign leading the line, racking a tally of 15 goals and five assists in 34 appearances across 2776 minutes of action.
Appearances
21
8
4
1
Goals
9
4
2
0
Assists
3
2
0
0
Goal Involvements per Match
0.57
0.75
0.50
0.00
That means the “superb” attacker, as dubbed by Arteta, was averaging a goal involvement every 1.7 games, or every 138.8 minutes, which, again, for a makeshift striker in arguably the toughest league in the world, is not bad going.
Ultimately, Arsenal should still go out and sign Gyokeres as he looks to be a lean, mean goalscoring machine, but in Havertz, the club have a reliable backup who can also do a job in the middle of the park.
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