Striker Gyokeres joined Arsenal for a fee of 64 million pounds from Sporting CP in July last year, after making a big splash in Portugal with 97 goals after 102 matches. However, his performance in the Premier League is still not really impressive.
After 24 appearances for Arsenal, Gyokeres has only scored 7 goals, including 5 goals in the domestic league and 2 goals in the Champions League. Notably, he has only scored one goal in the last 10 matches. In the extremely important match against Liverpool recently, Gyokeres continued to fade as usual.
Speaking after the match on Premier League Productions, Michael Owen frankly expressed skepticism: "We stood on the field for four or five minutes before the ball rolled and talked about him. At that time I said he was still instability, and now I still feel that way.
The former striker who scored 150 goals in the Premier League believes that Arsenal still does not have a center forward who makes a difference in big matches: "Luckily for Arsenal, they have many other players who know how to score. They want Gyokeres to be the piece that completes the squad and perhaps they are still looking for that person. If the Champions League final takes place tomorrow night, I am not sure if he will start or not".
Clearly, Arsenal is having difficulty dealing with Gyokeres. Owen understands this, pointing out that the Swedish blockbuster seems to be only good at bullying small teams: "Arsenal has spent a lot of money so they will definitely give him every chance. Against Burnley, Nottingham Forest or Everton, he can score many goals and perform well.
To beat Liverpool or big opponents, you need class and that's what he lacks. Maybe he's the type of strong player when playing at home against weaker teams. At the end of the season, looking at the numbers, more than ten goals is not bad. But when asked if he makes a difference in big matches, the answer is no.
In fact, the problem of center forwards is not only Arsenal's. Except for Man City owning "killer" Erling Haaland, most of the top teams do not have any excellent number 9. Owen commented: "World football is seriously lacking center forwards.
Many players score many goals in other leagues, but in the Premier League everything is completely different. I feel sorry for Arteta because he knows the problem, has money to spend, but the real choices are not many”.
