Andrea Berta, Hugo Ekitike with Arsenal badge
Andrea Berta told he blundered over not signing Liverpool stars for Arsenal
Former Arsenal academy striker Jay Bothroyd claims that his old club made two transfer blunders in the summer of 2025, with their failure to sign Liverpool stars ‘perfect’ for Mikel Arteta, only to then settle for Viktor Gyokeres instead.
A number of top strikers were linked with a switch to Emirates Stadium, only for Gunners sporting director Andrea Berta to switch his gaze to prolific Sporting star Gyokeres instead.
The Swedish hotshot racked up an incredible 97 goals in 102 appearances in all competitions to help the Portuguese giants win back-to-back Primeira Liga titles, prompting Arsenal to splash out £64million to secure his services ahead of the likes of Manchester United.
However, despite notching 21 goals in all competitions last term and walking away with a Premier League winners’ medal, it appears that Arteta has decided Gyokeres is not the No.9 capable of taking the club to the next level.
Indeed, the former Coventry star has found himself on the bench at the start of the new campaign, with Kai Havertz currently operating as more of a false nine for Arteta’s side.
And speaking about Gyokeres’s struggles, Bothroyd told Football Uncensored: “Gyokeres was fantastic in Portugal; he was scoring loads of goals, and he was beating up the league.
“He’s come to the Premier League and, physically, everyone can compete with him. But when I keep hearing, ‘Oh, he’s playing in between the defenders, he’s occupying people’… Arsenal are too big just to have a player and say: ‘You’re occupying the centre-backs.'”
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While Bothroyd still feels that major summer target Julian Alvarez is ‘exactly’ the kind of player that Arteta needs as the focal point of his attack, he adds that Berta and co. slipped up by not securing either of Alexander Isak or Hugo Ekitike ahead of Liverpool.
The Reds initially splashed out an initial £69m to bring in Ekitike from Eintracht Frankfurt in July 2025, at a time when they were trying and failing in their efforts to tempt Newcastle into selling Isak.
However, the Magpies eventually buckled and forced the Anfield outfit to cough up a British record £125m for the Sweden international late in the window, although Bothroyd would have loved to have seen either player lining up for Arteta
He added: “When I look at Julian Alvarez, I think he is exactly what Arsenal needed.
“I wanted to get Alexander Isak from Newcastle, I think that was the perfect signing.
“Then Hugo Ekitike, that was a perfect signing.
‘But I think Alvarez fits exactly what Arsenal need which is a player who can come in between the lines, he can get turned, he can manufacture his own goals, he can play out in wide areas and obviously he can play on the shoulder.”
While Isak and Ekitike are now a distant dream, there remains hope of landing Alvarez following a recent twist over the frontman’s future at Atletico.