Sporting manager Rui Borges believes Arsenal’s form of play was the rationale for the ‘initial’ struggles that Viktor Gyokeres went through following his £64m summer transfer.
Gyokeres arrived on the Emirates Stadium as one of the crucial prolific goalscorers in Europe, having netted 97 goals in 102 games for Sporting.
Mikel Arteta hoped the Sweden international would take Arsenal to a different level and help the Gunners win major trophies after several near misses.
Arsenal are indeed closing in on their first Premier League title since 2004 and having fun with one other deep Champions League run, but Gyokeres has not been a prolific presence within the team.
The 27-year-old has scored a decent but removed from game-changing 11 goals within the league and received criticism from a lot of pundits for his general play.
Sporting boss Borges says Arsenal fans were initially ‘suspicious’ of Gyokeres but believes the striker has already shown he’s a ‘great player’ who will ‘keep scoring goals’.
‘I imagine within the initial stage he needed to adapt, given the form of play, and the way Arsenal plays,’ Borges said.
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‘But he continues to be an important forward and now he’s back to what he does well which is scoring goals.
‘In the course of the first stage, the [Arsenal] fans were suspicious given what they paid for him, but little by little the reality got here to the surface and he’s a extremely great player and he’ll keep scoring goals.’
Gyokeres returns to his former club on Tuesday night as Arsenal face Sporting in the primary leg of their Champions League quarter-final.
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Arteta’s £64m signing could receive a hostile welcome given how hard he pushed for a move last summer but Borges hopes he will not be targeted by the Sporting fans.
‘He’s an important player, and I’m sure he can be welcomed by everyone because he marked the history of Sporting, and he deserves this acknowledgement,’ Borges added.
‘I all the time attempt to be balanced, and I try to know everyone. He had the ambition, and after talking to the management, they got here to an understanding.
‘So ultimately all the pieces that happened was correct for each side; each Sporting and the player got what they wanted. He desired to take that step in his profession and we respect that.
‘Players will change, however the club stays the identical, and Sporting will go on winning. I wish him all the very best and I’m sure he can be very welcome here since the admiration now we have for him is great.’
Arsenal visit Sporting having suffered back-to-back defeats of their last two games, losing to Manchester City within the Carabao Cup final before an FA Cup quarter-final defeat to Southampton.
Asked if is is a great time to face the Premier League leaders for a spot within the semi-finals of the Champions League, Borges said: ‘No, I don’t imagine that.
‘It’s an important team, and great teams all the time need to win. They need to be in all competitions.
‘They can be like a wounded beast tomorrow. They can be more focused, more willing to point out their collective and individual capability.
‘Frankly, I feel it can make things tougher for us the incontrovertible fact that they’ve not had the very best two last matches. But Arsenal can be facing a really motivated team
‘We imagine we will do something extraordinary tomorrow, something that has never been done by Sporting.’
While Arsenal go into the Champions League quarter-final sitting top of the Premier League, Sporting are second within the Portuguese top-flight, five points behind Porto with a game in hand.
Sporting finished seventh within the Champions League group stage and beat Bodo-Glimt 5-3 within the round-of-16 despite losing the primary leg 3-0.
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