Is Gyökeres really a bad transfer, or is Arsenal using him differently?
Introduction
Last season, everyone knew Arsenal needed a striker. Not just a finisher, a front line leader: press, duels, runs in behind, and the patience to face low blocks almost every week.
That is why Gyökeres felt like a statement signing.
And yet, the numbers so far do not scream “instant upgrade.” At least not if you look at goals and shots and stop there.
But when you actually look at the profile of his chances, a different story starts to show. This is not a striker who suddenly forgot how to score. This is a striker being asked to score from a different menu than the one he lived on at Sporting.
So the question is not “Is Gyökeres a bad transfer?”
It is “Are we judging him like Sporting Gyökeres, while Arsenal are using Arsenal Gyökeres?”
Gyökeres at Sporting CP: An Engine of Chaos and Goals
Gyokeres took the long way. Imagine this: Brighton had him early, they spotted him in Sweden, and it still did not work out. Then came the loans, the detours, the grind, until the Championship finally made people pay attention. Sporting moved fast in 2023, and from that moment his story flipped. The numbers stopped being “promising” and started being frightening. Big clubs circled, and Arsenal eventually got their man in 2025, a move he clearly wanted badly.
Last season at Sporting, the headline was 39 league goals. Yes, 12 were penalties, but 27 non penalty goals is still elite output. What stands out on the shot map is not just that he scored a lot, but how relentless the danger was. He took shots from different areas, but the goals mostly live where a striker should live: inside the box. You also see variety in his finishing. It is not only first time touches, there are plenty of shots after an extra touch or two, which fits the idea of a striker who can finish messy situations, not only perfect cutbacks.
Gyökeres Shot Map for the 2024-25 Season.
The xG by zone view sharpens it even more. The center of the box is the main engine room, but there is also real threat coming from the left side of the box and the left channel. That does not mean he only lives there, but it shows a pattern: Sporting repeatedly got him chances in those high value pockets.
Gyökeres’ Total xG Generated by Zone in the 2024-25 Season.
Put the two plots together and the Sporting version of Gyökeres becomes clear: high shot volume, lots of box presence, and a steady stream of chances in the most dangerous zones. Sporting did not make him a finisher. They gave him repeated moments to be one.
Now the real question is not whether he suddenly became worse at Arsenal. It is whether Arsenal are creating those same moments for him, or asking him to play a different game.
Gyökeres at Arsenal: Controlled Chaos, maybe too controlled
Old Trafford for a debut is not a welcome gift. And whatever people think of United right now, that is still a brutal way to start your Premier League story. The early flashes were there, then came the quiet spells, the knocks, and the familiar internet cycle: “bad signing”, “doesn’t fit”, “Arsenal cannot play with a striker”.
But the plots push back on the lazy take.
First, the shot quality is not the issue. He is taking fewer shots, but the shots he does take are closer and cleaner. The outside the box volume has basically disappeared, and the threat is concentrated in central box zones. That is not a striker spraying low value hopefuls. That is a striker living where goals are supposed to come from.
Second, the drop is mainly volume and variety. At Sporting, he had waves of chances from multiple lanes inside the box. At Arsenal, the locations narrow, the supply looks more predictable, and he is living off fewer sequences. When he makes the run and the pass does not come, it does not show up as a “miss”, it shows up as nothing at all.
Gyökeres’ Current Shot Map of the 2025-26 Season
Looking at the xG by zone, the pattern is actually reassuring. The threat is still coming from the right places: the central areas of the box and the six yard space. There is not a big reliance on low value efforts from distance. What has changed so far is the volume. The totals are simply smaller, which usually points to fewer chances rather than worse finishing.
Gyökeres’ Current Total xG Generated by Zone in the 2025-26 Season.
That is why I lean toward a supply issue more than a striker issue. When Gyökeres does get central service, he is still ending up in high value zones. The question is not whether he can finish, it is whether Arsenal can create those moments often enough, more cutbacks, more early balls into the corridor, more actions that end with him hitting the middle of the box.
Conclusion
That comparison is the whole story in one picture.
Gyökeres’ xG Map Comparison of his Last Season and Current Season
At Sporting, the red is spread across multiple lanes inside the box. The center is still king, but there is also serious production from both sides of the area, especially the left half of the box. That is what volume looks like. Sporting were repeatedly finding him in different pockets and different types of box deliveries, so he could attack the goal in waves.
At Arsenal, the map is not worse, it is narrower. Most of the threat is still in the central, high value zones, including the very close range band. That is a good sign for his profile and his decision making. The issue is that the menu has shrunk. Fewer zones are lighting up, which usually means fewer entry points, fewer repeated patterns of service, and fewer total chances.
So if you want a clean takeaway, it is this.
Gyökeres has not moved away from high value areas. Arsenal have moved away from giving him the same variety and frequency of high value moments.
If Arsenal solve the supply, the goals do not need a miracle. They just need repetition.
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