Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has lifted the lid on how Viktor Gyokeres has looked in training since his mixed debut at Manchester United.
Viktor Gyokeres, who joined Arsenal to much fanfare this summer, made his competitive debut last Sunday as the Gunners ran out 1-0 winners at Old Trafford.
However, while the result was ideal, Arsenal’s performance was worrying, and Gyokeres did not have a particularly great debut for the Gunners.
Arsenal are next in action on Saturday when they host Leeds United and Mikel Arteta said he likes what he has seen from the Swedish striker.
Mikel Arteta says Viktor Gyokeres has looked good and ‘very enthusiastic’ in Arsenal training
Arteta, speaking to the Arsenal media team on Friday, said Gyokeres has looked good in training.
Better still, the £64million man has been showing a lot of enthusiasm about the Gunners’ second game of the season.
When asked whether Gyokeres is ready to go again, Arteta said: “Yes, he is. He’s very, very enthusiastic.
“He trained really well this week, again. He’s had another week under his belt, he looks in a really good place.”
Arteta also said he took Gyokeres off after an hour because of how the game developed, suggesting it was not his plan ahead of kick-off.
“I think the game was very demanding physically, became really open for different reasons,” said Arteta.
“We decided that at that moment, he needed to come off, and we had Kai on the bench to come and change the game.”
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What Mikel Arteta previously said about Viktor Gyokeres match fitness
Gyokeres was criticised after his quiet debut, while fellow summer signings Martin Zubimendi and Noni Madueke did not pull up any trees either.
After the 1-0 win at Manchester United, Arteta admitted that Gyokeres, Zubimendi and Madueke aren’t at the right level physically just yet.
“Well, we are very happy with all of them,” Arteta told reporters.
“Probably all three of them… are still not at the highest level physically, to achieve what we want to achieve in terms of our game mode.
“But their contribution is going to be key, and today, looking at the bench and having the ability to change the game is something that we haven’t had in the past.”
However, judging by Arteta’s latest comments, Gyokeres is making great progress towards full match fitness.
Hopefully Theo Walcott’s comments about Gyokeres needing a lot more time to get match fit will be proven wrong.
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