ESPN pundits compare Viktor Gyokeres to Rasmus Hojlund and Erling Haaland in controversial prediction

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Viktor Gyokeres is on the verge of completing his big-money move from Sporting CP to Arsenal.

After the Gunners finally agreed on the £62.4m transfer with Sporting, the 27-year-old is expected to complete his medical in North London over the weekend.

Once he has done so, Gyokeres should make his debut against Tottenham as Arsenal ramp up their pre-season preparations with a clash against Thomas Frank’s side in Singapore, the first North London Derby to be played overseas.

As the deal edges closer, some pundits have also started looking ahead to how Gyokeres will perform at the Emirates this season, with three on ESPN sharing an opinion that Arsenal fans will not like.

ESPN pundits think Viktor Gyokeres will be closer to Rasmus Hojlund’s first-year goal tally than Erling Haaland’s this season

Speaking on ESPN FC Extra Time, Steve Nicol, Shaka Hislop and Julien Laurens were posed the question of whether Gyokeres’ goal tally in his first season in North London would be closer to Rasmus Hojlund’s in his first season at Manchester United, or Erling Haaland’s in his first season at Manchester City.

For context, Hojlund scored 16 goals in 43 games in all competitions during his debut season at Old Trafford, while Haaland found the net a staggering 52 times in 53 games.

As a result, if Gyokeres scores 34 goals this term for Mikel Arteta’s side, he will be exactly in the middle between Hojlund and Haaland; he therefore needs to score above that number to be closer to the Norwegian.

Due to this fact, all three pundits thought he’d be closer to United’s frontman.

Hislop gave an immediate and unequivocal response of ‘Hojlund’ after the question was put to him, while Nicol agreed, saying under 34 goals is a ‘sensible’ prediction.

Laurens, meanwhile, thinks Gyokeres will ‘get less than 30 goals’, meaning he thinks the Swede will be closer to Hojlund than Haaland.

Arsenal will need to create a higher xG if Viktor Gyokeres is to get close to Erling Haaland’s 52-goal tally

While Arsenal fans may not be best pleased with the views shared on ESPN, other pundits believe Gyokeres can replicate his form in the Portuguese League during his first campaign in the Premier League.

Gabriel Agbonlahor has spoken glowingly of Gyokeres, for example, comparing his strike rate in Portugal to that of Darwin Nunez’s at Benfica when arguing that the Sweden international’s clinical nature will stand him in good stead in the Premier League.  

Ultimately, though, if Gyokeres is to score more than 34 goals and push himself to be closer to Haaland than Hojlund, he needs his teammates to provide him with goalscoring opportunities.

Last season, for example, Arsenal generated an xG of 62.90, the sixth-best in the league.

This was also a whopping 22.35 below Liverpool, who comfortably led the way.

It was a big reason why Arsenal struggled to keep pace with the Reds in the Premier League title race, with Arne Slot’s side ultimately scoring 86 goals to Arsenal’s 69 last term.

If Gyokeres is to make good on his transfer fee and fire Arsenal to trophies, he will therefore need more support from those around him than the likes of Kai Havertz and Mikel Merino received when they led the line.