£45m star who plays ‘a bit like Henry’ could end Gyokeres’ Arsenal career

Arsenal got back on track in the best possible way on Wednesday evening: by dismantling Club Brugge 3-0.

Of course, there were times when the Belgian team looked dangerous, but in the end, it was an impressive performance from Mikel Arteta, which allowed them to maintain their 100% record in the Champions League.

Additionally, there were brilliant performances from players who needed to push themselves, like Noni Madueke and Gabriel Martinelli.

However, one starter who hasn’t done so and is now in real danger of slipping even further down the pecking order at Arsenal is Viktor Gyokeres.

Gyokeres season so far

There was a lot of excitement among fans when Arsenal finally signed Gyokeres this summer, partly because of the saga surrounding the move, but mostly because of his unreal record in Portugal.

After all, in just two seasons, the Swedish “powerhouse,” as analyst Ben Mattinson dubbed him, has racked up a total of 97 goals and 28 assists in 102 appearances, for a total of 8,417 minutes.

That works out to a simply staggering average of 1.22 goals per game, or one every 67.33 minutes, so to say there was a level of expectation for this season would be fair.

Unfortunately, so far the Stockholm-born international hasn’t exactly delivered.

Now, he certainly hasn’t been terrible, unlike other Swedish strikers who have moved on this year, but his return of six goals in 18 appearances is far from the numbers fans were hoping he would post.

Additionally, while some of the blame lies with his teammates for not creating enough clear-cut chances, the 27-year-old still needs to put himself in dangerous positions more often and retain the ball better.

Wednesday night’s game was one of his worst performances in that regard, as he offered virtually nothing with or without the ball, taking just 12 touches and completing just five passes.

That said, there is still time for the previously prolific striker to come into his own. He will have to start improving quickly though, as there is now another player in the team who could leapfrog him in the pecking order, someone who has been compared to Thierry Henry in the past.

Arsenal star bad news for Gyokeres career at Emirates

The unfortunate situation for Gyokeres is that, injuries permitting, he has serious rivals for that starting striker spot.

There’s of course Kai Havertz, who scored 15 goals before his season was ended by injury last year, and then the man who scored for fun in 2025, Mikel Merino.

However, Wednesday night marked the return of a third rival, someone many fans had essentially written off over the summer: £45 million man Gabriel Jesus.

The Brazilian made his return to the first team 322 days after suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury, and although he didn’t score against Club Brugge, he looked sharp.

In fact, during his 30 minutes of action, the former Manchester City ace looked far more threatening than Gyokeres, firing two shots on target and another that hit the woodwork.

Additionally, he took eight more touches than the Swede, played a key pass, completed 14 passes and helped to string the game together in a way that made the team much smoother.

Now, he’s been playing against a tired defense, and it’s probably too early to say he should start next game, but the 28-year-old is now a strong contender for that role, because when he’s fit, he’s a threat.

For example, in his 97 appearances for the North Londoners, he has scored 26 goals and provided 20 assists, which is a pretty impressive average of being involved in a goal every 2.10 games.

Additionally, although he doesn’t have the physique of the former Sporting star, he is much more graceful with the ball and, in the words of Ray Parlor, “drifts to the left quite often, a bit like Thierry Henry used to do”.

Ultimately, there is still plenty of season left to play, but from what fans have seen so far, there is a real possibility that, as long as he stays fit, Jesus could surpass Gyokeres in the pecking order and even end his Arsenal career.

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