Arsenal should have signed Ollie Watkins rather than Viktor Gyokeres

Arsenal must be starting to regret their decision to sign Viktor Gyokeres this summer after his very obvious difficulties adapting to the Premier League.

Gyokeres was extremely prolific at his former club Sporting Lisbon, finding the back of the net 97 times in 102 appearances over two seasons.

This prompted Arsenal to pay £64million to sign the Sweden international from Sporting last summer (fee via BBC Sport), with the deal looking exciting to give Mikel Arteta a more natural goalscorer than other strikers like Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus.

Arsenal will surely now be wondering if this was the right decision, as Gyokeres hasn’t been this impressive since arriving in what is clearly a much more competitive league.

Viktor Gyokeres to Arsenal this season versus Sporting last season

Gyokeres needs to improve quickly, because although he has never been likely to score as many goals for Arsenal as he did at Sporting, his numbers so far are far lower than the club would have expected.

See some key stats below comparing the 27-year-old’s form for Arsenal this season compared to how he performed at Sporting last season…

Viktor Gyokeres	Games	Goals	Goals per match
Sportsman 24/7	52	54	1.03
Arsenal25/26	24	7	0.29

Spending big on someone who had never played in the Premier League was perhaps always a gamble, so should Arsenal have opted to go all out for someone who had already shown he could do it at this level?

Because a few months earlier, that’s what almost happened when they tried to sign Ollie Watkins from Aston Villa.

The England international has 82 goals in 205 Premier League games for Villa, and BBC Sport reported last January that the Gunners attempted to sign him for £60 million.

It’s not a huge difference in terms of cost, but it’s still a little less for certainly a much safer option to come in and give the AFC the goal threat they needed.

Could Ollie Watkins have done a job for Arsenal?

Watkins has been a key player in this impressive Villa team, although it is worth noting that his own form has dipped slightly this season.

The 30-year-old has seven goals in 28 games in all competitions so far this season, so it doesn’t seem a given that he will match the 17 he scored last year, and almost certainly not the 27 he scored the year before.

Yet when you look at other key metrics, like in the chart below, you can also see that Watkins offers better overall play than Gyokeres…

There are no guarantees in football, with Gyokeres alongside other big-name signings like Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz proving disappointing this season, but Watkins looks like he could have been an option for Arsenal to consider.

The Villa frontman may only offer a similar type of goal threat, but he is more difficult for defenders with the number of touches he takes and the chances he creates for his teammates.

Arsenal ultimately decided this deal wasn’t worth it and opted for Gyokeres instead, but how long will they live to regret it?