After three consecutive second-place finishes, Mikel Arteta’s message to his squad is simple:
“You keep digging, digging, digging. You have to keep digging because one day, the gold is going to be there. That’s all the time, what I’ve been taught, I’ve been educated. That’s it.”
And to help with all that digging, Arsenal have invested in some serious muscle – Viktor Gyokeres.
The Sweden international’s arrival from Sporting Lisbon has generated a mix of excitement and trepidation. The club have spent big – the deal could rise to €73.5 million with add-ons – but whether his prolific scoring in Portugal will translate to the Premier League is another matter. After all, this is a striker who joined Brighton in 2018 and was sold to Coventry three years later without a sniff of top-flight action.
For Arteta, it was how Gyokeres responded to that setback that made him appealing.
“That’s probably the most important part of his career,” said Arteta ahead of Sunday’s opener at Old Trafford.
“When he had to accept a different role and not play, and value other things, so he had to improve and evolve. I think that’s the moment where he took the platform and went to a different level. That’s sometimes very useful in your career at a young age.”
Gyokeres himself has spoken of wanting ‘revenge’, against whom it’s not entirely clear, for not getting a Premier League opportunity earlier. That mission begins on Sunday. Whether he starts or not remains to be seen, but in taking the number 14 shirt, he’s embraced the pressure.
Adding spice to the United clash is the presence of Benjamin Sesko, once an Arsenal target. The Gunners cooled interest when RB Leipzig refused to budge on price, opening the door for United, only then stepping up their chase for Gyokeres.
If Alexander Isak was the dream target, but unattainable, where did the Swede rank?
Arteta wasn’t giving much away: “We’ve done the process like we always do, to analyse every single option. It’s not only about what we like about the player, it’s many aspects that have to, at the end, come together. And we’re extremely happy that it’s Victor.
“He’s been on the radar of the scouting department for a long time. But the reality is that you have to have a place, and an available place in the team. And now the time has come, he was available and we decided to bring him and he decided that the best option for him was Arsenal.”
Asked whether Old Trafford might be the perfect stage for Gyokeres to make his mark in direct competition with Sesko, Arteta offered a reminder of the bigger picture:
“I think it’s Arsenal that is the perfect stage for him to show what he can do for the team, and he’s got incredible teammates around him to make sure that he fulfils that.”
Unlike Sesko, Gyokeres isn’t walking blind into English football. By the time he left Coventry, he had years of experience in the country under his belt, something Arteta believes will serve him well.
“It helps once you have lived in the country and experienced and understand the culture, the passion, the style of play, the demands that they put on that pitch, the intensity, the referees. There are a lot of things that are great to experience before.
“Then he’s going away to a different league [in Portugal], adapted to that, been very, very prolific, and you just have to look at his body language, the way he talks, the way he carries himself. He’s a really confident boy, and I’m sure he will be very, very good for us.”
Big fee. Big shirt. Big stage. Gyokeres doesn’t lack confidence, and Arteta doesn’t lack belief. Now all that’s left is for Arsenal’s new number 14 to start digging up some goals.
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You can watch the second half of Mikel Arteta’s pre-United press conference below…