{"id":315937,"date":"2026-04-09T15:52:25","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T10:22:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/?p=315937"},"modified":"2026-04-09T15:52:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T10:22:25","slug":"mikel-arteta-told-arsenal-must-have-signed-26m-striker-as-an-alternative-of-viktor-gyokeres-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/2026\/04\/09\/mikel-arteta-told-arsenal-must-have-signed-26m-striker-as-an-alternative-of-viktor-gyokeres-football\/","title":{"rendered":"Mikel Arteta told Arsenal must have signed \u00a326m striker as an alternative of Viktor Gyokeres | Football"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t\t<\/div><figcaption>Viktor Gyokeres has had a mixed first season at Arsenal (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Liverpool hero Vladimir Smicer believes Arsenal \u2018may need won the Premier League already\u2019 had they signed a \u00a326m striker as an alternative of Viktor Gyokeres.<\/p>\n<p>Gyokeres has had a mixed first season at Arsenal following his \u00a364m move from Sporting last summer, scoring 17 goals in all competitions.<\/p>\n<p>There was serious concerns over the Sweden international after he netted just five Premier League goals in the primary six months of the season, but Gyokeres has at the very least improved his output since January with 14 goals for club and country.<\/p>\n<p>Doubts remain over Gyokeres\u2019 long-term viability as Arsenal\u2019s first-choice striker, nevertheless, and the Gunners are believed to be concerned about signing a brand new No. 9 this summer.<\/p>\n<p>Mikel Arteta hoped Gyokeres can be the ultimate piece of the jigsaw in an Arsenal team that had finished second within the Premier League for 3 successive season.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the query marks over Gyokeres, he has played a component in taking Arsenal nine points clear at the highest of the Premier League and on the verge of a Champions League semi-final.<\/p>\n<p>But former Liverpool star Smicer believes Arsenal would already virtually be Premier League champions in the event that they had Patrik Schick leading the road as an alternative of Gyokeres.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"646\" height=\"388\" src=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-1496732543.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=646\" class=\"article-image wp-image-27909406\" alt=\"ACF Fiorentina v West Ham United FC - UEFA Europa Conference League Final 2022\/23\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\">\t<\/div><figcaption>Ex-Liverpool star and Champions League winner Vladimir Smicer (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u2018Patrik Schick is a classic goalscorer,\u2019 the Champions League winner told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.betvictor.com\/en-gb\/sports\/240\">BetVictor<\/a>. \u2018Within the\u00a0box, he\u2019s very, very clever and he can finish from all angles.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018His left foot is actually good. Unfortunately for him, he\u2019s suffered quite a bit from muscle injuries.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018If Schick had joined Arsenal as an alternative of Viktor Gyokeres, I believe they may have won the Premier League title already.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"594\" height=\"396\" src=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2269513123.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=594\" class=\"article-image wp-image-27909418\" alt=\"Czechia v Denmark - FIFA World Cup 2026 European Qualifiers KO play-offs\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\">\t<\/div><figcaption>Bayer Leverkusen and Czech Republic star Patrik Schick (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u2018With the identical possibilities, he would have scored quite a bit more goals. I\u2019m certain of that because he&#8217;s a a lot better finisher. I\u2019d still prefer to see him within the Premier League.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Schick has scored 97 goals in 203 appearances for Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen and 25 goals in 52 caps for Czech Republic.<\/p>\n<p>His most famous goal \u2013 an incredible strike from the halfway line \u2013 was scored against Scotland in Euro 2020 and voted the Goal of the Tournament and nominated for the Puskas Award.<\/p>\n<div class=\"video-player\">\n<div class=\"video-player\">\n<div class=\"metro-video-player  \" data-track-module=\"article_video-player-with-related-carousel\">\n<div class=\"vjs-video-container vjs-fixed vjs-responsive\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<video id=\"3632177\" class=\"video-js\" poster=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2026\/04\/08\/07\/107733667-0-image-a-42_1775631509468.jpg\" data-opts=\"{\"autoplay\":false,\"controls\":true,\"createdDate\":\"2026-04-08T07:58:03+0100\",\"duration\":410,\"headline\":\"Arteta reacts after Havertz wins it at the death for Arsenal against Sporting 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Arteta hailed David Raya as 'extraordinary' after his goalkeeper's stunning performance in Arsenal's late 1-0 Champions League win against Sporting Lisbon.\",\"title\":\"Arteta reacts after Havertz wins it at the death for Arsenal against Sporting Lisbon\",\"videoId\":3632177}\" preload=\"metadata\" playsinline=\"\"><source src=\"https:\/\/videos.metro.co.uk\/video\/met\/2026\/04\/08\/6280487521811938128\/480x270_MP4_6280487521811938128.mp4\" type=\"video\/mp4\"><\/source><\/p>\n<p class=\"vjs-no-js\">To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to an internet<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbrowser that<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/videojs.com\/html5-video-support\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">supports HTML5<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tvideo<\/a><\/p><\/video>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The 30-year-old has previously been linked with a move to the Premier League with Manchester United among the many interested clubs last summer.<\/p>\n<p>Arsenal still had an out of doors likelihood of a historic quadruple this time last month but Arteta\u2019s side fell short within the two domestic cup competitions.<\/p>\n<p>A disappointing Carabao Cup final defeat to Manchester City was followed by a shock FA Cup quarter-final exit by the hands of Championship side Southampton.<\/p>\n<p>Arsenal remain firm favourites to win their first Premier League title since 2004, nevertheless, boasting a nine-point lead over Man City ahead of Saturday\u2019s clash against Bournemouth.<\/p>\n<p>The Gunners even have one foot within the semi-finals of the Champions League after beating Sporting 1-0 in the primary leg of their quarter-final tie in Lisbon.<\/p>\n<p>Smicer is actually not the one pundit to query Gyokeres, together with his former Liverpool teammate Jamie Carragher recently urging Arsenal to sign a brand new striker in the summertime.<\/p>\n<p>Atletico Madrid striker and former Manchester City star Julian Alvarez is believed to be of interest to Arsenal ahead of the summer transfer window.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><strong>For more stories like this,\u00a0check our sport page<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><strong>Follow Metro Sport for the most recent news on <meta charset=\"utf-8\"><br \/>\n<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sportmetro\">Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Metro_Sport\">Twitter<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/metrosportuk\/\">Instagram<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><svg><title>Arrow<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#common-right-arrow\" href=\"#common-right-arrow\"><\/use><\/svg><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: \u2018He can be perfect\u2019 \u2013 Liverpool urged to rent former Chelsea manager to switch Arne Slot<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><svg><title>Arrow<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#common-right-arrow\" href=\"#common-right-arrow\"><\/use><\/svg><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: Rio Ferdinand names surprise \u2018key player\u2019 for Arsenal to win Premier League<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><svg><title>Arrow<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#common-right-arrow\" href=\"#common-right-arrow\"><\/use><\/svg><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: Jamie Carragher blasts \u2018awful\u2019 Liverpool star after PSG defeat: \u2018He makes a mistake every game\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<section id=\"share-buttons-bottom\" class=\"share-buttons share-buttons-bottom\"><a class=\"metro-button share-bar-comments\" data-vars-position=\"bottom\" href=\"#metro-comments-container\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t<span><svg><title>Comment now<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#social-comment\" href=\"#social-comment\"><\/use><\/svg><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"share-bar-comments__label\">Comments<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t<\/a><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span><svg><title>Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#social-preferred-source\" href=\"#social-preferred-source\"><\/use><\/svg><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"share-bar-preferred-source__label\">Add as preferred source<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/section>\n<div class=\"newsletter-end-card accent--sport\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-end-card__inner\">\n<h4>Football Newsletter \u2013 In The Mixer<\/h4>\n<p>Punchy evaluation, transfer talk and more from Metro&#8217;s football experts, sent straight to your inbox every week.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Viktor Gyokeres has had a mixed first season at Arsenal (Picture: Getty) Liverpool hero Vladimir Smicer believes Arsenal \u2018may need won the Premier League already\u2019 had they signed a \u00a326m striker as an alternative of Viktor Gyokeres. Gyokeres has had a mixed first season at Arsenal following his \u00a364m move from Sporting last summer, scoring [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":315938,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20686],"tags":[39692,2605,2604,5479,24942,2603,8314,15405,13674,24941],"class_list":["post-315937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","tag-26m","tag-arsenal","tag-arteta","tag-football","tag-gyokeres","tag-mikel","tag-signed","tag-striker","tag-told","tag-viktor"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=315937"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315937\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":315940,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315937\/revisions\/315940"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/315938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=315937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=315937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=315937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}