David Ornstein says he’s been told something worrying as Viktor Gyokeres prepares to join Arsenal

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After years of searching, it looks as though Arsenal have finally found their new number nine.

Indeed, Arsenal are closing in on signing Viktor Gyokeres from Sporting CP.

Alexander Isak was a dream target at one point, while Benjamin Sesko was considered by Arsenal too, but now, it looks like Gyokeres will be the one the Gunners go for.

Gyokeres is coming off the back of an exceptional spell in Portugal, but speaking on The Athletic’s YouTube channel, David Ornstein has already heard some worrying murmurs about Viktor Gyokeres from those within the game.

Indeed, Ornstein says that he’s been told by people who know this player well that his goalscoring volume is likely to decrease as he heads to England.

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Viktor Gyokeres will score fewer goals in England

Ornstein shared what people are telling him about Gyokeres as he prepares to sign for Arsenal.

According to the journalist, people in Portugal expect Gyokeres to score way fewer goals when he heads to England, and that is concerning considering Arsenal’s need for a proven finisher.

“People I speak to in Portugal and around the game who know far more about this sort of stuff than me, and don’t have skin in the game or a dog in the fight, who have studied this player closely, a couple of things they say immediately is that his volume may come down in the Premier League,” Ornstein said.

“But if you’re contributing 15/20 down from 50+, that could be absolutely critical to Arsenal, especially as they appear to have pretty much everything else in place in terms of chance creation.”

Portuguese League strikers’ record in the Premier League

People in Portugal expect Gyokeres’ output to dip when he arrives in England, and, frighteningly, there is serious precedent for this.

Indeed, we’ve seen tons of strikers come from the Portuguese League only to majorly flop in English football.

Darwin Nunez has been heavily criticised since arriving in England, while Carlos Vinicius, Islam Slimani and Ricky van Wolfswinkel were all serious flops.

There’s no saying that Gyokeres won’t go down exactly the same route here.

Of course, there have been successful Portuguese League exports too, such as Luis Diaz, but when it comes to goalscoring number nines, most don’t adapt to life in England.

Arsenal need to be wary of this trend as they close in on signing Gyokeres.