EVEN halfway across the world in Singapore, Gyokeres-mania has been at boiling point.
At half-time of Arsenal’s pre-season 1-0 victory over AC Milan this week, the kiss-cam was taken over by nearly every Gunners fan reenacting Viktor Gyokeres’ iconic mask celebration.
During Mikel Arteta’s open training session at the Singapore National Stadium on Friday, chants from the stands of: “We want Gyokeres” were impossible to block out.
Outside most of the bars and pubs of an evening, fans have been clutching a drink in one hand and their phone in another, desperately scrolling for the latest updates.
Arteta has tried his best, but their tour of Asia has inevitably turned into a Gyokeres countdown. When will he sign? Why has it not been done yet? Will he fly out?
Those questions have finally been answered. Viktor Gyokeres – the deadliest striker in Europe with 97 goals in 102 Sporting Lisbon appearances – is an Arsenal player, and will soon be on a plane to join his teammates, and the child-like fanfare, in Asia.
If all goes to plan, Gyokeres, 27, will make his debut on Thursday in Hong Kong against – who else? – North London rivals Tottenham.
The pandemonium and excitement at that game will be suffocating, perhaps overwhelming, unlike anything a new Arsenal signing has experienced for years, but Gyokeres is the sort of bloke who will shrug it all off with a smirk.
It was a move that threatened to turn into a never-ending saga, one that SunSport understands had Arsenal officials frantically ironing out last-minute details from multiple continents and timezones just hours before the agreement was rubber-stamped.
But Arsenal have got their man. Their stubbornness not to bow down to Sporting president Frederico Varandas and his constant changes in demands over weeks and months designed to frustrate and scare off potential suitors has paid off.
For years, Arteta has been criticised for not addressing Arsenal’s glaring striker issue, putting square pegs in round holes and trying to convert wingers and midfielders into No.9s.
That criticism can stop now, although it must be said that Arteta needed to be persuaded of putting all his eggs in the Gyokeres basket, with the Spaniard understood to initially favour the younger and more mouldable Benjamin Sesko, 22, from Red Bull Leipzig.
Arteta also had a real soft spot for Newcastle’s Alexander Isak – two years younger than Gyokeres and with a proven Prem record and similarities to club legend Thierry Henry, only to be priced out after several attempts to negotiate with the Toon.
But sporting director Andrea Berta always preferred Gyokeres as the star of the ‘here and now’, having tried and failed to bring him to Spain during his tenure at Atletico Madrid.
And while SunSport was told that Sesko and his agent would never attempt to rock the boat to leave Leipzig out of respect, Gyokeres was more than happy to go on strike to make it to the Emirates, something that will leave a slight stain on his glorious Sporting career.
Gyokeres knew of Arsenal’s interest since last summer, but when he realised he was quickly becoming their No.1 target, he informed Varandas of his decision to leave, reminding him of their gentleman’s agreement to part ways should a reasonable offer be made.
That was on May 18th – the same day that Varandas called manager Rui Borges into a meeting to warn him that they could lose Gyokeres, but would not go down without a fight.
Sporting used every trick in the book to delay this deal: arguing with Gyokeres’ agent Hasan Cetinkaya over commission fees, squabbling over laughable and easily-obtained add-on clauses and denying that a gentleman’s agreement to let him go for £60m even existed.
But Arsenal were prepared to avoid appearing desperate and wait it out, hence why Gyokeres is joining up mid-tour instead of pre-tour as planned.
Berta’s negotiation style of keeping several deals alive simultaneously and playing them off each other also meant that the club were never going to be left short should it collapse, with the likes of Sesko and Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins waiting in the wings.
Gyokeres was becoming impatient over the past few days, telling one of his closest friends in the Sporting squad: ‘I’m not a fortune teller’ when asked about the move.
His thirst for what he describes as “revenge” is evident after failing to make a mark in the Prem with Brighton between 2017 and 2021, kept out of the team by Glenn Murray…
It will be intriguing to see how Arteta and Gyokeres’ relationship unfolds and develops.
A manager who craves control and obedience to a system and philosophy and a player dripping in self-confidence who just loves banging in goals, no matter how they come about, similar to the contrast between Pep Guardiola and Erling Haaland at Manchester City.
But for all the differences in styles and approaches, Arsenal believe they finally have a complete, world class game-changer – one with a relentless and infectious drive and winning mentality.
And of course, an aura and an arrogance designed specifically with the English game in mind, a throwback attitude to the likes of Henry, Cristiano Ronaldo and Eric Cantona.
Watch out Premier League. Gyokeres-mania has only just begun.
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