Gyokeres to Arsenal: Romano reveals the state of play

Tom Weber

Updated: 25 Jun 2024 20:25 BST
4 min read

Viktor Gyokeres is still an option for Arsenal, according to Fabrizio Romano.

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The Gunners are in the market for a striker - or are they? That is a question that has been puzzling Gunners fans for some time. For most of the bygone campaign, it was thought that Arsenal would splash the cash on a new number nine this summer.

However, by the end of the season, Kai Havertz had shown himself to be quite prolific and very useful to Mikel Arteta's system. As FootballTransfers revealed at the time, this prompted a shift in Arsenal's thinking.

Instead of breaking the bank on an elite, proven, €100+ million number nine such as Victor Osimhen or Viktor Gyokeres, Arsenal focused on younger, cheaper strikers, chief among them Benjamin Sesko.

The Slovenian, however, ultimately decided to extend his contract at RB Leipzig, which again led to the north London giants reconsidering their transfer priorities and going for a midfielder.

Romano on Gyokeres

Now, then, why do Arsenal continue to be linked with strikers? Because it is still an area of the pitch Arteta and sporting director Edu would like to strengthen. However, they will not sign anyone purely for the sake of adding a striker.

Arsenal are sounding out the market for potential opportunities. Despite this, Sporting CP sharpshooter Gyokeres remains on their radar even though he boasts a €100m release clause. According to Fabrizio Romano, Arsenal are not 'close' to signing the Swede as some have claimed, but they are familiar with his situation.

“At the moment, Arsenal are not at advanced stages of their negotiation for Gyokeres," Romano told CaughtOffside. "They made contact on the player side already months ago, it was between April and May. They are also informed about the conditions of the €100m release clause, but also the cost of the deal in terms of salary and all the rest."

“They have still not decided what they really want to do in that position or who is the priority target. They want to take their time to assess the options, so at the moment with Gyokeres, it is not something imminent or close, but it’s an option."

“I don’t think Arsenal will go for crazy money so it has to be maybe a different structure of the deal or Arsenal could look at different opportunities.”