Arsenal have had a very impressive summer transfer window so far.
Andrea Berta was brought in to do a better job than Edu Gaspar did during his time at the club, and the Italian has more than delivered.
Kepa Arrizabalaga, Martin Zubimendi, Christian Norgaard, Noni Madueke, Cristhian Mosquera and Viktor Gyokeres have all come in, and Mikel Arteta should be a happy man.
However, Paul Scholes thinks the Arsenal manager actually didn’t want one of those players.
Paul Scholes suggests Mikel Arteta did not want Viktor Gyokeres at Arsenal
Every football fan on the planet has said at one point or another over the last three years that Arsenal need a new striker.
The Gunners played three full seasons without a prolific centre-forward, and many feel that is the reason why they have not won the Premier League title in those years.
Berta has addressed that issue by signing Gyokeres, and it took a while for the deal to be struck as Arsenal were left unhappy with Sporting CP during negotiations.
Scholes has now had his say on Gyokeres, and he has his doubts over whether Arteta even wanted to sign the Swedish striker.
He said on The Overlap: “Yeah, centre-forward, just wonder if you’ve chosen the right one, you don’t know until it happens.
“There was a lot of umming and ahhing about him. He was taking a bit of time. I was wondering, does Arteta really want him, is he the main one he wants? I wasn’t too sure.
“Now, look, he’s got him, and he’s had a really strange career path, I think, hasn’t he? He has, honestly, Brighton, Coventry, and he’s gone to Sporting Lisbon.
“His goal record is absolutely brilliant, you can’t take that away from him, and you think, if any team that you could go to that creates chances, then it should be Arsenal, and it should be a really good match.
“But we just don’t know until it happens.”
Viktor Gyokeres was probably Mikel Arteta’s third-choice striker target
Gyokeres has been the most prolific striker in Europe over the last two years, scoring 97 goals in 102 games for Sporting CP.
However, he definitely was not on top of Arteta’s wish list.
Arsenal’s dream target was Alexander Isak, while the other striker Arteta has had on his radar for over a year was Benjamin Sesko.
A deal for Isak was never realistic, while RB Leipzig demanded way too much money for Sesko – he just hasn’t done enough to justify such a high fee.
Gyokeres may not have been the preferred option, but he is the most cost-effective one, and we think Berta was right to get him in.
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