A year ago, Viktor Gyokeres was the signing that finally gave Arsenal a proper centre forward. Now he is the one having to explain, from an international training camp, why he has not left. Speaking to reporters while on duty with Sweden, the striker was clear about where he stands. “For me, staying was a given. I’m extremely happy at the club,” he said, before adding the more pointed admission that sits underneath all of it: “It’s clear that I want to play football as much as possible.”
That last line is the whole story in a sentence. Gyokeres has started only two Premier League matches this season, reduced to a substitute as Kai Havertz has established himself as Mikel Arteta’s first choice up front. For a player who arrived twelve months ago as a club record signing and finished his debut season with 21 goals in all competitions, a return matched at Arsenal only by Thierry Henry and Ian Wright, it is a dramatic change in status.
From Title Hero to the Bench
Gyokeres joined Arsenal from Sporting in the summer of 2025 for a fee that could rise to around £63.5m, signing a five year deal after a prolific spell in Portugal. His first season at the Emirates delivered exactly what the fee suggested it should: 21 goals, a direct hand in Arsenal’s run to the Premier League title, and the sort of physical, direct centre forward play the club had lacked for years. Arsenal ended a 22 year wait for the championship last season, and Gyokeres was central to how they did it.
This season has told a different story. Havertz has started every Premier League match so far and has been converted into a reliable focal point of his own, while Gyokeres has been restricted to brief appearances from the bench. It is a significant reversal for a player who, by his own admission, expected to be building on a title winning campaign rather than watching most of it from the touchline.
A Summer of Speculation
The uncertainty around Gyokeres’s situation built steadily through September. Reports in Portugal and Italy linked him with Serie A and Saudi Pro League clubs, and his representatives were said to be seeking clarity from the club over his role. Fabrizio Romano addressed the speculation directly, reporting that Arsenal’s position throughout the summer had been consistent: “The answer from Arsenal was always the player is not for sale. We trust Gyokeres, we want Gyokeres to stay.” Romano was careful to note that the stance applied to the window just gone, rather than ruling out any scenario in the future if the situation does not improve.
Gyokeres himself did not shy away from the frustration in the middle of all this. Speaking to Swedish broadcaster SVT before his most recent international break, he said plainly: “Of course it’s frustrating, no matter where it is. You always want to be on the field and contribute, score goals. It can be frustrating sometimes but I just try to do my best when I get the chance and focus on what I can control.” It was a more measured tone than some of the speculation around him suggested, and it has been echoed by his comments this week.
The Case for Havertz, and the Noise Around Gyokeres
Arteta’s preference for Havertz has not been accompanied by any suggestion that Gyokeres has fallen out of favour entirely, but the switch has invited plenty of outside opinion on a player who spent last season being compared to some of Arsenal’s great forwards. Former Arsenal defender Armand Traore was among the more pointed critics, questioning whether Gyokeres possesses the instincts of the club’s best number nines. “I don’t get that killer instinct that some of these guys had,” he said, contrasting him with Thierry Henry and Didier Drogba and adding, “speed kills and I don’t see that Gyokeres is very quick.”
Gyokeres has made a point of not engaging with that kind of commentary. “If there is a lot of it and you read it, of course you can be influenced, but that is not something I do,” he said this week, before turning to what he can control. He broke his own scoring drought for Sweden during the international break, finding the net in the Nations League against Romania and later against Poland, and said he hoped the form would travel back with him to north London. On his path back into Arteta’s plans, his message was simple. “I obviously need to do better, and yes, I want to do it, so that’s no problem. It’s good, the dialogue with Arteta.”
What Happens Now
For all the speculation, nothing about Gyokeres’s situation has actually changed on paper. He remains an Arsenal player with four years left on his contract, a title winner from last season, and, by most accounts including his own, a forward who still believes he can force his way back into regular selection rather than needing to leave to find it. His next opportunity comes when the Premier League resumes after the international break, with Arsenal hosting Leeds United on 10 October.
What happens beyond that is harder to predict. Arsenal’s stance of not selling in the summer does not necessarily extend to January if a significant offer arrives and Havertz continues in his current form, and Gyokeres’s own patience will only stretch so far if his role does not change. For now, though, the player at the centre of it all has made his position clear enough: he wants to fight for his place rather than walk away from it, and he is not interested in letting the noise around him decide which one happens first.
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