Last week, Arsenal finally announced the signing of Greek winger Christos Tzolis from Club Brugge.
The spritely 24-year-old was in jaw-dropping form for the Belgian side last season, scoring a whopping 22 goals and assisting 29 times. The level he was playing at may well be questioned but it was still a remarkable campaign for the winger.
However, the Gunners need more. Coming into the summer transfer window, supporters were longing for a set of elite forwards to join.
The Vinicius Junior saga continues to rumble on and it remains to be seen if Mikel Arteta and Co can lure him away from the Bernabeu. Arsenal’s interest in the wide player and indeed several strikers boil down to the performances of their attack last season.
Viktor Gyokeres‘ debut campaign saw him find the net on 21 occasions but many of his performances left a lot to be desired. They need an improvement up top and out wide.
The problem facing Viktor Gyokeres at Arsenal
A year ago Andrea Berta had a choice to make. It was his first transfer window in charge of the club’s recruitment and he had successfully lined up deals with RB Leipzig for Benjamin Sesko and with Sporting CP for Gyokeres.
That’s how Berta works; he likes to get all of the finances in place before deciding which player to pull the trigger on. Well, the finances looked better on the Gyokeres deal and they ended up bringing in the Swede.
Was it the right call? It’s really rather difficult to answer that question. The 28-year-old was never going to replicate the 54-goal season he had during his final year in Lisbon and to his credit, he did still score 21 goals in the red and white.
Arsenal won the title and Gyokeres was their top scorer in all competitions and in the Premier League with 14. Based on that, he was not a total failure, far from it.
In fact, the former Coventry City man was one of the best finishers in England’s top-flight last term. Only five players in the league had a better conversion rate. Feed the number 14 and he will usually find the back of the net.
|
Best conversion rates in 25/26 Premier League |
|
|---|---|
|
Player |
Conversion rate |
|
1) Will Osula |
30.4% |
|
2) Noah Okafor |
22.9% |
|
3) Danny Welbeck |
22.6% |
|
4) Nick Woltemade |
22.6% |
|
5) Eli Junior Kroupi |
22.0% |
|
6) Viktor Gyokeres |
21.2% |
The problem was not in his goalscoring ability. It lay in his general play instead. In that regard, he was way behind colleague Kai Havertz.
Arsenal’s leading centre-forward ended 2025/26 with just three assists and struggled with bringing his teammates into play. His performance against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League was an exception. He ran the channels exceptionally well, held the ball up phenomenally and was a nuisance for Diego Simeone’s backline.
Sadly, that sort of performance level was too infrequent during his first year at the Emirates. He created just 0.16 big chances from open play per 90 minutes and made just 0.28 dribbles per 90. He’s one of the worst carriers of a ball in Europe when you compare him to his positional peers. He ranked among the worst 10% of strikers in the continent’s top five leagues for that metric.
Therefore, if the Gunners are to reach the next level, they need to source an upgrade just one year on from Gyokeres’ arrival.
The perfect replacement for Gyokeres
On the opening day of the campaign last time out, Arsenal fielded a front three of Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Gyokeres in their 1-0 win away at Manchester United.
It didn’t go particularly well. The latter two were hooked after just an hour on the clock.
When the Gunners face Coventry on the opening day in a few weeks, that forward line could either look identical, or it could look very different. Tzolis has already registered an assist in pre-season and there is a very realistic chance that Vini Jr does join.
He could be joined in the final third, rather amazingly, by Atletico’s Julian Alvarez. Arsenal’s interest in the striker this summer is no secret but given Atleti are unwilling to sell and his dream move is Barcelona, concluding a deal remains very difficult.
Still, according to TEAMtalk, Arsenal remain in discussions with the Spanish giants over a move for the Argentine and are continuing to monitor his situation. If Alvarez does not seal his ideal switch to Barca then he is thought to be open to the idea of moving back to English football and joining the Gunners.
The Vini Jr deal could be mega but this has the potential to be just as transformative. As well as upgrading on the left, they could finally find the elusive centre-forward they have been looking for to spearhead Arteta’s side.
Hailed as the “one of the best strikers in the world” by Barcelona defender Ronald Araujo, the former Manchester City man has more than lived up to that billing in recent years.
He wouldn’t just be bad news for the aforementioned Gyokeres but this is a player who could instantly upgrade on Havertz too.
We all know Arteta loves signing someone who is already proven in English football and the 26-year-old would tick that box. For City, despite playing second fiddle to the great Erling Haaland, he enjoyed a 17 goal campaign in 2022/23 and then a 19 goal and 13 assist campaign in 2023/24.
Following a move to Spain, he has been even more clinical in front of goal, scoring 29 times during his first season in the capital and then finding the net on 20 occasions last time out.
It’s not just his goalscoring ability that makes him such an exciting proposition. Compared to Gyokeres, he’s a much better carrier of the ball and he’s more likely to provide for his teammates. In 2025/26, Alvarez created 0.43 big chances from open play per 90 minutes, ranking him in the best 6% of positionally similar players in Europe’s top divisions. He also completed 1.23 successful dribbles per 90, a huge increase on Gyokeres.
The Swede has not been a disaster in north London but in Alvarez, they would sign a colossal upgrade. It would not be good news for the former Sporting man if the World Cup winner joined.