Viktor Gyokeres’ Arsenal transfer proves that more Premier League clubs should look to the Championship for new stars

TWO YEARS ago, after two outstanding Championship seasons with Coventry, Viktor Gyokeres was on the market for £20million.

Now Arsenal could end up splashing out a whopping £63.5m on the Swedish hitman, who will make his Gunners debut in a North London derby in Hong Kong.

So why did no Premier League club take the plunge on Gyokeres back in 2023, when Ruben Amorim’s Sporting ended up doing so?

And indeed why do so few English top-flight clubs ever buy from the second tier any more?

It is a bugbear among many Premier League scouts that the Championship is so frequently overlooked as a mine of talented players, proven in the English game.

The argument is that elite clubs are far more likely to take a punt on players from the Portuguese, Dutch or other middle-ranking European leagues than on those from the Championship — which has far more in common with the Premier League in terms of tempo and physicality.

Gyokeres netted 38 goals in two full Championship campaigns at Coventry. By 2023, he was a 25-year-old coming into his prime, already renowned for his pace, strength, finishing and hold-up play — and regarded as a rare oversight from Brighton.

Yet despite Gyokeres being tracked by many Premier League clubs at the time, none made a significant offer — and Sporting swooped in.

The only player to outscore Gyokeres in the 2022-23 Championship campaign was 28-goal Chuba Akpom, who then moved to Ajax, rather than an English club.

While Arsenal and other elite clubs might be excused for believing the step up from Championship to Champions League was too steep for Gyokeres, what about the rest of the top flight?

So many are infected with an ongoing snobbishness over England’s second tier, failing to see the division as the excellent pathway it undoubtedly is. There are exceptions, notably Crystal Palace — whose former sporting director Dougie Freedman has successfully raided the Championship.

Eberechi Eze was snapped up from QPR for an initial £15m five years ago and has seen his price tag quadruple, as an England star who scored the winner in this year’s FA Cup final.

Michael Olise, signed by Palace from Reading for £8m, was flogged to Bayern Munich for £50m.

Midfielder Adam Wharton, an £18m recruit from Blackburn, has been outstanding at Selhurst Park, with Romain Esse, signed from Millwall in January, is expected to be the next to make a big impact for the Eagles.

Fellow Scot David Moyes brought Jarrod Bowen to West Ham from Hull, as well as Tim Cahill, Joleon Lescott and Phil Jagielka from Championship clubs during his first Everton stint.

Aston Villa’s Unai Emery spent around £1billion on 164 players during his coaching career before he ever signed an Englishman.

When he dipped into the Championship for Middlesbrough’s Morgan Rogers he plucked out a gem.

But others refuse to make such moves, meaning an absence of money flowing down from the filthy-rich Premier League to the lower reaches of the English game.

There has been a steep downward trend in Championship to Premier League transfers — save for the regular vulturing of clubs who have just been relegated from the top flight.

Brighton’s £10m move for Tom Watson, 18, from Sunderland, is this summer’s only example of an established Premier League club signing anyone who played in the Championship last term.

The Middlesbrough duo of Hayden Hackney and Finn Azaz are highly regarded, as are West Brom’s Tom Fellows, Norwich striker Josh Sargent and many more.

But will anyone take a calculated risk on any of them? It is doubtful.