Beware the next Nunez! Why Chelsea and Arsenal should fear €100m striker

Robin Bairner

• 13 Dec 2023 11:25 CST
• 4 min read

Chelsea and Arsenal are both in danger of falling into the trap that Liverpool did with Darwin Nunez and dramatically overpaying for a striker prolific in Portugal.

In recent days, both clubs have been linked with a potential move for Sporting CP forward Viktor Gyokeres.

Fabrizio Romano has confirmed that Chelsea are following his progress, while Arsenal are also said to be monitoring the 25-year-old Sweden international as they seek a more prolific offensive option.

The striker posts impressive numbers. Across all competitions this season, he has scored 15 goals and created seven more, and while three of those goals came in the relatively minor Allianz Cup, it is a record worth taking note of.

These figures, though, are not dissimilar to Nunez in 2021/22, when he scored 34 goals in 41 appearances for Benfica, enticing Liverpool to pay an upfront sum of €75 million for him that could rise to €100m with bonuses.

A similar sum is being discussed for Gyokeres, whose contract is up in 2028, with the Uruguay international apparently used as the benchmark figure.

Like Nunez, though, Gyokeres’ fine form has come rather out of the blue. Sure, he had scored 38 goals in the two previous campaigns with Coventry City, but this was in the English Championship and bears a resemblance to Darwin posting good figures with Almeria in Spain’s second flight.

The South American has been unable to transfer the form he showed in Benfica to Liverpool as yet.

His return of 22 goals in 64 games for the Anfield club is far from embarrassing, yet it is below what is expected for the outlay, and while Nunez provides energy and clever movement, his erratic finishing and questionable technique means the jury is still out as to whether he can become a success under Jurgen Klopp.

Gyokeres a bigger gamble that Nunez

All the evidence against Gyokeres may appear to be circumstantial. After all, which should he fail simply because an unrelated player has struggled to impress at a different Premier League club?

Data analytics experts SciSports also suggest there is more than an element of risk in either Chelsea or Arsenal signing the Swede as a front-line player. At both clubs, it is reckoned that he has the potential to become – at best – a rotation player.

Furthermore, his Estimated Transfer Value (ETV) of €18.7m is well below the price Sporting will sell at.

On top of this, Gyokeres’ is a player whose development lags significantly behind Nunez, with SciSports of the belief that the Swede will not be able to attain the level of the Liverpool star.

Chelsea and Arsenal may both be desperate for another forward, but at Sporting’s asking price, they would be crazy to consider Gyokeres.