Gabriel Agbonlahor delivers his honest thoughts on Viktor Gyokeres signing for Arsenal

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Arsenal are now finally closing in on the signing of Sporting CP striker Viktor Gyokeres to come in as Mikel Arteta’s new number nine.

If all goes to plan, Arsenal hope that Viktor Gyokeres will be part of their pre-season tour of Asia.

Gyokeres could make his debut against Newcastle United in Singapore on Sunday — at least Arteta will hope that’s the case.

Along with Valencia centre-back Cristhian Mosquera, sporting director Andrea Berta expects Gyokeres to be an Arsenal player by the weekend.

And fans in N5 will already be hotly anticipating Gyokeres’ debut at the Emirates Cup when Arsenal are back on home soil in August. 

Gabriel Agbonlahor is convinced that Viktor Gyokeres is better than Darwin Nunez

That being said, Gabriel Agbonlahor has now shared his honest thoughts on Arsenal signing Gyokeres on talkSPORT.

Analysing the striker’s goal record, Agbonlahor thought Gyokeres could be a huge success at Arsenal — and he wasn’t a fan of comparisons to Liverpool’s Darwin Nunez, owing to the strikers both being signed for Portugal.

Agbonlahor said: “I think you’ve got to look at him as he’s 27 years of age, it’s go time straight away.

“It’s not, ‘okay he needs a season to bed in and get used to the Premier League’, no. 

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“At Coventry he got 40 in 97 games, not bad, solid, still learning his trade. 97 goals in 102 games for Sporting.

“Some people try and use the Nunez example — Nunez got 48 in 85 (for Benfica), so his record is a lot better than Nunez’s was.

“Nunez near enough one in two, Gyokeres nearly one in one. So he’s showing that he’s going to be a better option than Nunez was.

“And what I like about him when I’ve seen minimal of him is he can hold that ball up and he will get in that box.

“How many times last season did you watch Arsenal, every game, big game, PSG, Saka and Martinelli putting balls in, Havertz or Merino — they haven’t got that striker’s clinical edge of where to be at the right time.”

Ben White will know Viktor Gyokeres better than most Arsenal players

In terms of Gyokeres settling at Arsenal, former Brighton & Hove Albion teammate Ben White might play a big role.

The duo didn’t play in the senior side together at Brighton, but they did feature for the U21s in the same team.

In fact, White once assisted Gyokeres, and he might be one of many Arsenal players very excited to see the Sweden international arriving in Singapore.

Of course, Kai Havertz will probably be quite happy himself to see Gyokeres arrive — his serious hamstring injury last season suggests he was perhaps playing too many minutes.

And whilst Gyokeres will be direct competition for Havertz up top, the German is also able to drop back into midfield — the duo can definitely play in the same team.

It’s a very healthy situation for the Gunners, and in line with Jose Mourinho’s comments about Gyokeres, the Swede should be a stellar signing for Arsenal.