Viktor Gyokeres will be hoping Mikel Arteta can land his top two summer transfer targets for his own benefit.
Arsenal scored 40 goals from open play last season. Manchester City, their closest title rivals, scored 60. Quite the gap.
Much has been made of Arsenal’s reliance on set-pieces, having scored more Premier League goals from corners than any team in history last season.
Their numbers from open play, however, leave much to be desired, despite the title triumph.
Mikel Arteta will surely know that this is something that needs addressing this summer, to prevent the Gunners from standing still.
Mikel Arteta’s top two transfer targets are geared towards improving Arsenal in open play
Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard are Arsenal’s best creators from open play. But persistent injury problems meant the two rarely had sustained periods on the pitch together.
On the other side of the pitch, Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Martinelli, effective as they can be, offered considerably less — particularly in terms of chance creation.
Arsenal need more, and the data shows exactly where they are looking.
According to Genius IQ data via Sky Sports, Bruno Guimaraes (244) and Morgan Rogers (237) ranked eighth and ninth in the Premier League last season for passes breaking the opposition back line.
It’s surely no coincidence, then, that these two are Arteta’s top two transfer targets this summer.
Morgan Rogers and Bruno Guimaraes would get the best out of Viktor Gyokeres
Viktor Gyokeres has his flaws. His dribble success rate was the worst of any Arsenal player last season.
He fed heavily on weaker opposition, with 11 of his 14 Premier League goals coming against bottom-half sides.
Against the best defences, where Arsenal struggled to create, he was often starved of service in the areas where he is most dangerous.
Rogers will surely help with that. Although primarily being an attacking midfielder, the noise points to him playing on the left flank for Arsenal, should a move materialise.
He actually did play at left wing 17 times last season for Aston Villa, scoring five goals and assisting four.
He brings aggression, directness and a willingness to drive at defenders, qualities that would give Gyokeres a more dynamic outlet on his left side.
Guimaraes, meanwhile, operates a lot deeper for Newcastle but he has been able to showcase his creative potential during this World Cup.
At the time of writing, only Michael Olise has more assists at the tournament than Guimaraes’ four.
His pass for Martinelli’s match-winning moment against Japan is exactly the kind of line-breaking quality he could bring to the Arsenal midfield.
These two are match-winners. Players capable of carving something out of nothing — Rogers driving at defences from wide, Guimaraes threading passes through lines from deep.
Gyokeres’ mentality and pressing have never been in doubt, and ultimately he has been his side’s top scorer in a title-winning campaign three seasons in a row.
With Rogers and Guimaraes alongside him, he could well make that four.
Receive a digest of our best Arsenal content each week direct to your mailbox
