20 years after leaving Arsenal, the £86m star is now worth far more than Gyokeres

Ah, the elusive attacker. It’s something Arsenal And Mikel Arteta have had nightmares throughout 2025.

The Gunners arrived this year in desperate need of a new centre-forward to lead the line. This requirement was only reinforced when Gabriel Jesus suffered an ACL injury in January during the FA Cup.

The winter window passed without any additions to the offensive ranks. Lo and behold, Kai Havertz suffered a hamstring injury in early February, meaning Arteta’s side were in trouble.

Leandro Trossard was something of a solution and although the Belgian performed well in 2025/26, he was not the cure with which Arsenal struck gold. Mikel Merino was.

The Spaniard had a remarkable 2025. He was one of the players of the year and he deserves all the accolades he gets.

At Dortmund he was used as a makeshift centre-back at times, but Arteta has made him a truly elite number 9. By Christmas, Merino had scored 30 goals for club and country.

It’s safe to say that he had a much better year than a certain Viktor Gyokeres.

Why Viktor Gyokeres struggled at Arsenal

Arsenal may have failed to sign a striker last January, but they made sure not to repeat that in the summer transfer window.

Players like Ollie Watkins and Benjamin Sesko were targeted, but led by Andrea Berta, the Gunners landed on Gyokeres instead.

On paper, he looked like a solid signing. Arsenal paid £63.5m for a striker who scored 54 goals in 52 matches last season. It looked like a bargain considering Liverpool signed Alexander Isak for £125m and Nick Woltemade moved to Newcastle for £69m.

On reflection, however, it seems that Arsenal could well waste some money on the Swedish striker. For what? Well, it’s been a bit disappointing so far.

What Arteta sorely needed heading into the current campaign was goals. Gyokeres was brought in to replace him, but in the run-up to Christmas he only found the net seven times for the famous red and whites.

An injury in November, however, disrupted his progress at a cruel time. The former Sporting player scored against Burnley and finally seemed to be finding his feet in north London. He was forced off at half-time and his form since returning from injury has been incredibly poor.

Gyokeres has had a combined number of touches of 38 in matches with Aston Villa, Club Brugge and Wolves. He also only managed to complete 12 passes in those matches.

Of course, you don’t have to touch the ball a million times to score a goal. Erling Haaland is proof of this. Unfortunately, the Arsenal striker is not scoring at the same rate as the Norwegian.

He looks frantic in front of goal and struggles to create scoring opportunities. Arsenal are forced to try and sustain themselves only.

With Merino leading the way, he brings others into play and you get a much wider range of qualities from your striker. Perhaps more concerning, however, is that Jesus has looked sharper and more likely to score in his few appearances since returning from his ACL injury.

This is the warning sign that really sparked fear among the fans. Gyokeres may not be the man to return them to the title.

How they should have wished to have a former Hale Ender in their ranks.

Hale Ender outclasses Gyokeres after leaving Arsenal

It’s safe to say that Arsenal have produced many incredibly attacking talents from Hale End over the last few years.

Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe are proud to be two talents who facilitated Arteta’s formative years as a manager.

However, we also saw Ethan Nwaneri and Max Dowman break through. Elsewhere, AS Monaco strikers Mika Biereth and Folarin Balogun earned their stripes on the continent by deciding to flee English football.

The same can be said of a certain Harry Kane. His story has been remarkable. After being rejected and spat out of Arsenal’s youth system as a child, he bounced around the houses completing a number of loan spells in the EFL before becoming England and Tottenham Hotspur’s top scorer. He is now widely known as one of the best center forwards in world football.

So, let’s start at the beginning. Childhood gooner, how come Kane left Arsenal behind?

Detailing the events of 20 years ago, Liam Brady once revealed that Kane left for a simple reason: “He was a little chubby, he wasn’t very athletic.” Brady then admitted, “We made a mistake.”

In an alternate reality, Kane had an incredible career with Arsenal. Unfortunately, that’s not how things worked out for those involved.

It was at their fierce rivals, Spurs, that he became a global success. He scored 280 goals in 435 games for the Lilywhites, cementing himself as one of the best players we have ever seen in this country. Internationally he is an icon and if the Three Lions win the World Cup next summer he will surely confirm his legacy as the best player to ever pull on the England jersey.

Gyokeres, a 50-plus goal scorer last season, beat Kane to win the Gerd Muller Trophy for Europe’s top scorer in 2024/25, but the latter has proven in the current season that he is the continent’s best. He’s certainly a step ahead of Arsenal’s new number 14.

While the Swedish powerhouse has only scored six, Kane is in fine form. The 32-year-old may be approaching the latter stages of his career, but he is in the form of his life after scoring a breathtaking 30 goals in 25 outings for Bayern Munich this season.

Following an £86million move from Spurs a few years ago he was worth every penny as he continues to establish himself as the best striker in the game. Not even Haaland can match Kane’s numbers this season.

If only Arteta could bring in a striker of his caliber. The title would surely be sure to head to the Emirates.

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