Arsenal reach full Viktor Gyokeres agreement, medical expected this weekend – The Athletic – The New York Times

EPL
Arsenal have reached a full agreement with Sporting CP for the transfer of Viktor Gyokeres.
The Premier League side will pay an initial €63.5million (£54.8m; $74.2m) plus €10m in add-ons.
Gyokeres has been given permission to travel by Sporting and is expected to undergo his Arsenal medical on Saturday.
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The 27-year-old will take the No 14 shirt at Arsenal, the number made iconic by the club’s record goalscorer Thierry Henry.
The Athletic reported on July 22 that the clubs had agreed a deal in principle but issues remained over the nature of the potential add-ons. Those concerns have now been ironed out.
Gyokeres was focused only on joining Arsenal and, despite late interest from elsewhere, he did not consider joining another club. The Swede’s agent also waived his commission to help the switch, while he is set to sign a five-year contract.
People briefed on the figures say €5m of the add-ons will trigger at a set number of appearances while there are further payments tied to the player’s goal involvements and the team qualifying for the Champions League.
Speaking at a news conference at Singapore’s national stadium on Friday, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta would not confirm the signing of Gyokeres is imminent, but said that if the club did sign a striker, he would “want to integrate him with the team as quickly as possible. I think immediately is better so they can start to join the team, get to know each other and get the ideas we want to put in their minds”.
Gyokeres has been one of Europe’s most in-demand strikers this summer after scoring 54 goals in 52 matches for Sporting last season, and was identified as Arsenal’s preferred centre-forward target.
Arsenal were without a recognised No 9 for much of 2024-25 following injuries to Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus, as they finished second in the Premier League for a third consecutive campaign, ten points behind champions Liverpool with 17 fewer goals scored.
After leaving Brighton & Hove Albion for around £1m to Coventry City in 2021, Gyokeres emerged as a key figure for the Championship side before his £17m move to Sporting in 2023. He recorded 97 goals and 28 assists for the Portuguese club, helping them to consecutive league titles and the Taca de Portugal last season.
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Arsenal have been active in their first summer transfer window led by new sporting director Andrea Berta.
Midfielders Martin Zubimendi and Christian Norgaard have joined from Real Sociedad and Brentford respectively, while goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga and winger Noni Madueke have arrived from Chelsea, and defender Cristhian Mosquera from Valencia.
Gyokeres made his Sweden debut aged 20 and has played 26 games at international level, scoring 15 goals.
Analysis from Arsenal correspondent James McNicholas
It’s a sign of considerable confidence that Gyokeres is prepared to take on the number 14 shirt. At Arsenal, that number has a special significance — it was of course worn by Henry, the greatest goalscorer in Arsenal’s history. Henry scored a record 228 goals in 377 matches, surpassing the club’s previous top goalscorer, Ian Wright.
Theo Walcott — who scored more than 100 Arsenal goals — inherited the shirt from Henry, and it was also worn by Premier League golden boot winner and former club captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
It is Henry’s legacy, however, that weighs heaviest on the shirt. With Gyokeres’ preferred number nine shirt currently held by Gabriel Jesus, he might have gone for the vacant number 10. Instead, he’s opted for 14 — a clear nod to Henry and Arsenal goalscoring heritage.
Analysis by data writer Thom Harris
There’s quite an obvious appeal to Gyokeres when flicking through the numbers; his 68 league goals since joining Sporting two summers ago is well over double that of any other player in Portugal throughout that time, a brutal finisher, able to generate freakish power on either side.
But there’s more to the Swede than just lasered shots and penalty-box poaching — Gyokeres is a prodigious runner, direct, explosive, and with the physical capacity to repeat those movements at high intensity.
As we can see from his SkillCorner run profile below — comparing his off-ball work to strikers across Europe’s top seven leagues — he’s often targeting the space in-behind, or pulling wide to run the channels, happy to take a defender out wide before powering inside and getting his shot away.

The Premier League, of course, is a different proposition, and while Gyokeres clearly has the physical capabilities to battle it out with the strongest of centre-backs, he may not be afforded quite as much space to attack for a side such as Arsenal, often pass-heavy and patient in their build-up. He also isn’t prolific in the air, without a single headed goal in league football last season.
But the Swede is a handful, a guaranteed goalscorer, a relentless runner, and a ruthless No 9 who can turn half-chances into goals. If Premier League teams thought they had figured out Arteta’s Arsenal, this signing would add a new dimension.
(Top image: Gualter Fatia/Getty Images)
David Ornstein joined The Athletic in October 2019 after 12 years as a sports journalist and correspondent at the BBC. In the role of Football Correspondent, he is responsible for producing exclusive and original stories and interviews, offering unique insight and analysis. He works across video, audio and the written word. Follow David on Twitter @David_Ornstein

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