Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has no doubt that Viktor Gyökeres’s “killer instinct” will lead to success for the Swede in north London, and is confident that his new arrival can play alongside Kai Havertz rather than replacing him in the team.
Gyökeres has arrived at the Emirates Stadium to tremendous fanfare, ending Arsenal’s long search for a central striker whose main focus will be to score goals.
The Gunners have finished as runners-up in the Premier League for the last three seasons, with added pressure to deliver a first title in 21 years now likely to be on Arteta after securing Gyökeres from Sporting CP for an initial fee of £54.8 million ($74.2 million) that could rise by a further £8.6 million in add-ons.
The first test for Arteta’s new signing in the Premier League is a trip to Manchester United—a tussle that will be all the more interesting as the Red Devils also showed interest in Gyökeres before turning to Benjamin Šeško, who Arsenal were also tracking.
Speaking to Sky Sports ahead of the game, Arteta spoke at length about Gyökeres's capabilities, talking through his demeanour since he walked into the club and what he expects to see on the pitch from the 27-year-old.
“That's the recruitment process, that's one of the things I was most interested in,” Arteta said. “We need to bring a player that can put that shirt on day one, walk into the dressing room and everybody says 'He's got it'. Viktor has definitely got that.
“He's got that charisma, he's got that personality and he's a really confident boy. We've seen in the first few weeks already the way he's acting, the way he behaves on the pitch. Everything is natural for him.
“When you look at his goalscoring record, we haven't had a player that has scored that many goals in the last two seasons. That killer instinct, that ability, that intuition inside the box to get the ball and put it in the back of the net is something very, very special.
Arteta: Gyökeres Can Play Alongside Havertz
It’s been suggested that Gyökeres’s arrival will push Havertz out of Arsenal’s starting lineup, with the German spending the most recent years of his career playing as a centre forward after initially breaking through at Bayer Leverkusen as a more traditional No.10.
But Arteta sees a world in which the pair can co-exist, suggesting his team selections may not be as cut and dry as many may think.
“Yes, they can play together,” Arteta remarked. “One of the biggest qualities of Kai especially is that he can play in various positions. He's done that with us, he's done that at the highest level.
“Now we have options; on the right we have options, on the left we have options. That variety and that competition internally for places, the capacity to impact the game when we need to as well is going to be a different level of threat.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as ‘Killer’—Mikel Arteta Sounds Confident Viktor Gyokeres Message.
