When the plane touched down from Lisbon last summer, the narrative was already written. The headlines wrote themselves. We were signing the “Swedish Beast,” the “Goal Machine,” the man who had turned the Primeira Liga into his personal stat-padding playground. The YouTube compilations did the rounds—endless reels of Viktor Gyökeres smashing the ball into the net, running through defences like a freight train.
The media painted a picture of a pure, unadulterated finisher. A gladiator who would simply stand in the box and guarantee us 30 goals a season. The narrative was simple: Arsenal creates chances, we just need a guy to finish them. Gyökeres was sold to the Emirates faithful as the final piece of the jigsaw—the ruthless Number 9 we had been crying out for since the days of Robin van Persie.
Six months later, looking back at the first half of this campaign, it is fascinating to see how wrong that narrative was. Not because Gyökeres has failed far from it but because he is fundamentally _not_ the player the media told us he was.
In retrospect, Viktor Gyökeres isn’t the one-dimensional goal machine of the brochures. He is something far more important to Mikel Arteta’s system. He is the missing physical fix. He is the first true “focal point” this Emirates era has seen. And if we are brave enough to make the comparison, he is the closest thing the Premier League has seen to a prime **Alan Shearer**—not in terms of goals scored, but in the sheer physical trauma he inflicts on defenders.
### The myth of the “Poacher”
The disparity between expectation and reality often breeds toxicity in modern football. When Gyökeres went three games without scoring in October, the murmurs began. “Is he a flop?” “Why isn’t he scoring every week like he did at Sporting?”
Those questions missed the point entirely. The “Goal Machine” tag from Portugal was a red herring. At Arsenal, he hasn’t just been waiting for Martin Ødegaard to thread a needle; he has been the one carrying the anvil so the others can hammer the iron.
What we failed to appreciate in the summer transfer window was that Arsenal didn’t actually need a player to just touch the ball five times and score once. We needed a release valve. For three years, we played with False 9s and fluid front lines. It was beautiful, but it was fragile. When the press came, or when teams went man-to-man, we lacked an “out ball.”
Enter Gyökeres. He is not the modern, delicate forward. He is a throwback. The media sold us a finisher; we actually bought a bully.
### The Shearer reincarnation (The physical profile)
It is lazy to compare strikers just based on goals. When I compare Gyökeres to Alan Shearer, I am not talking about the sheer volume of strikes; I am talking about the **physical profile** and the “dark arts” of centre-forward play that had gone extinct at the Emirates.
Modern strikers are obsessed with “link-up”—dropping deep to play nice one-twos. Gyökeres can do that, but his instinct is pure 90s bravado. Like Shearer, Gyökeres thrives on the physical humiliation of centre-backs.
Watch how he receives the ball with his back to goal. He doesn’t check his run; he plants his feet, uses that immense upper-body strength, and _invites_ the contact. This is the Shearer blueprint:
1. **The channel run:** Shearer was famous for drifting into the right-hand channel, dragging the centre-back out of position, and firing shots across the keeper. Gyökeres has mirrored this perfectly, turning what used to be a dead-end for Gabriel Jesus into a highway of opportunity.
2. **The “Elbows Out” hold up:** Most strikers try to turn immediately. Gyökeres, like Shearer, is happy to stand still, back into the defender, and wait for support. He occupies space. He makes defenders tired.
We can actually see this difference in the underlying numbers. While the media obsessed over his goal tally, the real value was in the “engine room” stats:
**Metric (Per 90)**
**The “Media Narrative” (Pure #9)**
**The Gyökeres Reality (The Physical Fix)**
**Progressive Carries**
Low (Expectation: Wait in box)
**Elite** (He drives the ball up field himself)
**Fouls Won**
1.0
**2.8** (Consistently buys free-kicks like Shearer)
**Aerial Duels Contested**
Low
**High** (He fights for the long ball)
**Shot-Creating Actions**
Shooting only
**High volume** (Created by his physical runs)
_The stats paint a clear picture: He isn’t just finishing moves; he is starting them by physically wrecking the opposition’s shape._
### The Liberation of Bukayo Saka
Perhaps the greatest trick Gyökeres has pulled is not the goals he has scored, but the space he has created for our Star boy.
For the last two seasons, Bukayo Saka has played with a target on his back. Every team knew the drill: double-team Saka, kick him out of the game, and dare Arsenal to score from elsewhere. Because our previous strikers (Jesus, Trossard, Havertz) often drifted wide or dropped deep, the opposition centre-backs were free to slide over and help their full-back suffocate Saka.
Gyökeres has fixed this through pure gravity. Because he is a legitimate, terrifying physical focal point, opposition centre-backs cannot leave him alone. You cannot leave Viktor Gyökeres 1v1 with your remaining defender while you go to help double-team Saka. It’s a suicide mission.
The result? Saka has been isolating his full-back 1v1 more this season than ever before. The “gravity” of Gyökeres sucks the defense inward, collapsing their shape. It’s a selfless role—battering two centre-backs for 90 minutes so the winger can have fun—but it is the primary reason our attack looks so much more sustainable.
### A celebration of quality over quantity
The ironic viewpoint here is that while we spent big money seeking a “goal scoring forward,” what we actually needed and what we got was a platform.
Gyökeres is the platform upon which the rest of the team performs. He allows Martinelli to run inside because he pins the centre-backs deep. He allows Ødegaard more time on the ball because the defensive midfielders are terrified of the striker spinning in behind.
We need to stop obsessing over whether he matches his Sporting CP goal tally of 43 goals. That was a different league, a different system. In the Premier League, against low blocks and physical monsters, the _quality_ of his contribution matters more than the _quantity_ of his stats.
Gyökeres has brought a jagged edge to our smooth football. He has brought a nasty streak. He chases lost causes, he hassles goalkeepers, and he celebrates tackles like goals.
So, let the media pundits look at the goal charts and say, “He’s not quite the goal machine we expected.” Let them have that narrative. We know the truth. We didn’t just buy goals. We bought a presence. We bought a focal point. We bought the physical reincarnation of an old-school #9 that allows the immense talent of this squad to finally, truly, search off and destroy the opposition.
Viktor Gyökeres might not be the “Goal Machine” they painted. He’s better. He’s our shear force of nature.