Strike partners: Viktor Gyokeres and Alexander Isak
Arsenal Football Newsletter
Viktor Gyokeres said he takes no issue with players forcing transfers after he and his Sweden teammate Alexander Isak were sold in controversial circumstances this summer.
Both strikers employed similar tactics in engineering early exits from their contracts against the wishes of their clubs, refusing to train or partake in pre-season activities, and both eventually got their moves.
Isak got his British-record transfer to Liverpool over the line on Deadline Day, while Gyokeres secured his move from Sporting CP to Arsenal earlier in the window.
The same was true of Yoane Wissa, who joined Newcastle after abandoning Brentford’s pre-season training camp and issuing a strongly-worded statement outlining his desire to leave.
Signing on the dotted line: Alexander Isak completes a controversial British-record transfer to Liverpool
Gyokeres takes no issue with the rising trend of players forcing moves, though. He feels clubs are in control.
“The club has the most power,” he explained, speaking from the Sweden national team’s training camp.
“It is maybe difficult for players to choose in a lot of cases, and when it is a player that is not wanted, I think it is the total opposite.
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“He doesn’t have any power, and the club can do whatever they want with the player. It is difficult, but that is how the situation is.”
He went on, adding that his and Isak’s situations were more different than the surface-level similarities suggested.
“You don’t really know what has been going on behind (the scenes),” said the Arsenal striker.
“I don’t really know in his case what the situation has been exactly, so it is difficult for me to speak about that.”
Gyokeres and Isak will line up alongside one another this week for Sweden in a pair of World Cup qualifiers against Slovenia and Kosovo.