Even though his team has been winning a lot of games, Viktor Gyokeres has not had the best time at Arsenal so far this season.
Gyokeres signed for the Gunners in a blockbuster move earlier in the summer, and has since not been able to hit the same strides he was hitting at Sporting last season.
He has still scored a few goals, and some of his passing and hard work has come good, but it is some way off the ruthless Gyokeres everyone knew and loved last season.
Gyokeres will get past his hurdles, and he will be a successful striker at Arsenal, but there will be some things he would need to change for that to happen.
An unexpected Arsenal rival has offered advice to Viktor Gyökeres
Weirdly enough, a former Manchester United player has offered advice to Gyokeres during his struggles. Legendary defender Rio Ferdinand, who never played the same position as Gyokeres, would still know a thing or two about how a striker should play in the modern game - having played against so many during his time as a football player.
He said: “There are two or three things I look at with Gyökeres that he needs to understand. His movement, I think they had 30 crosses in, the second-most they’ve had, and I’m watching him when the ball is wide.
“I’m not saying he’s got terrible movement. I’m just saying you need to understand who is on the ball. Depending on who is on the ball, you move differently.
“If Martin Ødegaard’s on the ball, he’s going to move differently to when Saka’s on the ball and vice versa, but I just don’t think there’s that telepathy yet. There’s not that understanding there, that I’ve got to move here when Saka’s there. Whether that’s about communicating and talking outside the pitch or just doing those reps on the training ground.
“One of the big things that I saw, as a defender, he’s allowing defenders to get their hands on him. Now, in Portugal, he was stronger and quicker than almost every centre-half. Even if the defender had his hands against him, he was shrugging people off and just slapping it in the back of the net.
“He isn’t doing that in the Premier League. Centre-halves are as big as him and as strong as him at times and he’s enabling them to get their hands on him and then he can’t move, he’s locked down.”
Those are some really, really wise words from Ferdinand. He played against the best strikers in the world at the time, and did so in the same league as the one Gyokeres is trying to succeed in, and that is excellent advice from him.
Ferdinand would know a lot about it, and Gyokeres could definitely improve on a thing or two that have been mentioned here.
He is a brilliant football player, there is no doubt about it, but the Swedish forward needs to adapt to the league in order to succeed.