Portugal to Premier League – how will Gyokeres fare?

Rio Ferdinand refers to Viktor Gyokeres as “I don’t think he’s the guy.”

“I’ve watched him probably three times really, really closely. And three times, I’ve said, “He ain’t getting that opportunity in the Prem. “

Gyokeres, 27, has just moved from Sporting to Arsenal for up to £64 million.

Gyokeres has scored a phenomenal 97 goals in 102 appearances for the Portuguese club, and contributed 26 assists.

Last year, he averaged 54 goals per game, which is more than that.

Ferdinand, however, claimed he was unsure whether Gyokeres would make a good team in England’s top flight when he was being linked with Manchester United.

The six-time Premier League winner, speaking on his Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast, asked: “Is there enough – after he’s physically matched – to get him a goal”?

However, former Gyokeres assistant coach and fellow Swede Bjorn Hamberg, tells BBC Sport, “He has got the physicality for sure.”

After a successful two seasons with Sporting, where he played for Manchester United under Ruben Amorim, the former Brighton player made a number of top clubs linked with Arsenal.

In addition to his 39 goals in Portugal’s Primeira Liga in 2024-25, Gyokeres helped himself to another six in the Champions League – including a hat-trick against Manchester City.

Through loan spells at Swansea and Coventry, as well as St Pauli, he has gone from leaving Brighton without playing a single minute of Premier League football to becoming one of Europe’s most prolific marksmen.

Cristiano Ronaldo, who also came from Sporting, is without a doubt the most successful import from the Primeira Liga.

The 18-year-old, then a winger, joined Manchester United for £12.24m in August 2003.

In 292 games for United, he scored 118 goals, with 103 of those goals coming from the Premier League.

Before moving to Real Madrid for a record-breaking $80 million, he won three Premier League titles, the Champions League, and a Ballon d’Or.

The next most prolific player to make the move from Portugal to England was also a Sporting to United signing – Bruno Fernandes.

Following his January 2020 move for a fee of £47 million, which increased to £67.7 million, the now United captain has scored 62 goals in 195 Premier League games, totaling 98 goals in 290 games.

Nani also signed for Sporting to United in 2007 and scored 25 goals in England between those two.

Looking at out-and-out strikers, Mexico forward Raul Jimenez has scored 59 Premier League goals for Wolves and Fulham.

After a successful loan spell on-loan, he made his Wolves debut for a club-record sum of $ 30 million in 2019.

However, there is a Mario Jardel for every Ronaldo. The Brazilian won the Golden Boot five times in Portugal and netted 179 goals in 176 games in the country’s top flight.

His goals-per-game ratio is unmatched anywhere in the world. When Bolton signed him in August 2003, manager Sam Allardyce said, “We have found a striker who is going to score goals for us on a regular basis.”

Aged 29, he only made seven substitute appearances in the Premier League, with his only three goals for the club coming in the League Cup.

He would later be referred to as the worst player Allardyce has ever managed.

There were three in between, with Jardel and Gyokeres being the first Portuguese league top scorer to join the Premier League.

Benni McCarthy top scored with Porto in 2003-04 and two years later joined Blackburn Rovers.

He only managed two goals in his first season with Rovers, one more than Didier Drogba, who won the Golden Boot.

In 109 games for Blackburn, he would score 37 league goals, including 11 for West Ham.

Carlos Vinicius and Darwin Nunez are the other players to win recent Portuguese Golden Boots – both with Benfica – before less-than-prolific spells in England.

Vinicius has eight goals in 53 Premier League games, scoring both on loan at Tottenham and Fulham before making a permanent move to Fulham in 2022.

The usual suspects are on display in Europe’s top leagues in 2024 and beyond when you look at the list.

Robert Lewandowski finished with 27 goals for Barcelona in the title-winning season, one more than England captain Harry Kane’s total for Bayern Munich, while Kylian Mbappe managed 31 in his debut season in La Liga. Mohamed Salah scored 29 as Liverpool won the title.

Gyokeres, who is 6ft 2in, managed 39, though the Primeira Liga is not considered one of the top five leagues in Europe.

Is it important for him to succeed in a stronger league? Ferdinand’s comments come as a result of Ferdinand’s comments, as he has just turned 27 and is yet to play in any of Europe’s top five divisions.

It is perhaps worth noting 35% of his goals in 2024-25 came from penalties, as he successfully converted all 19 of his spot-kicks.

Gyokeres is a prolific goalscorer, but will he be successful against elite-level defenses?

There will undoubtedly be competition between Arsenal’s front players, Hamberg asserts.

“I think he’s committed to let go again and obviously he understands that Arsenal will be another step up in the ladder.

You can see that he is probably more prepared than ever to take that challenge on in his final few seasons, especially in the Champions League.

He typically stays in shape and improves annually. He’s just one of those players who is good around the box, a good finisher, but he’s also quite strong in transition and in big spaces.

Gyokeres has previously played for a Premier League team.

Having failed to make the grade, Brighton allowed him to join Coventry for a small fee in July 2021 after an unspectacular return of three goals in 19 Championship appearances during a loan spell with the Sky Blues.

After scoring 38 times in 91 Coventry league games between the years 2021-22 and 2022-23, he transferred to Sporting for £20.5 million.

Gyokeres has risen new heights while playing in Lisbon, and he has also taken the international stage with Sweden’s exciting attacking line-up, along with Dejan Kulusevski from Tottenham and Newcastle’s Alexander Isak.

Gyokeres scored nine goals in six games for his country – including four in one match against Azerbaijan – in the 2024-25 Nations League.

His attention has been drawn to him not just for his accomplishments, though.

Gyokeres is renowned for his intelligent movement and fast, focused work, and admirable club reviews for his combination of physical strength, technical skill, and tactical awareness.

He is a creator as well as a goalscorer, with a lot of his chance creation coming from his love of running with the ball.

According to Hamberg, who was Graham Potter’s assistant at various clubs, including Brighton, “When we had him, we had Glenn Murray who had scored double figures the previous season,” and we signed Neal Maupay from Brentford.

The third or fourth choice was then Viktor, so to speak. He would still play games for us in the Carabao Cup.

We were pleased that he had a support role while he was still young and be ready for an opportunity, “in our opinion.”

However, when he has his mind on something, he typically goes all-in for that.

A young boy who cried when he lost is remembered by Gyokeres’ former team- and coach friends. They talk about a “stubborn kid” who was “wild, really aggressive” and would occasionally come to blows with team-mates.

There are tales of Gyokeres’ unyielding resolve, perseverance, and drive.

At his first senior club Brommapojkarna, David Eklund, academy scout, says Dejan Kulusevski was never a superstar. But he scored goals. That is it.

He was a very nice guy, despite having a strong mentality. He always worked hard and had the idea of being a top player, training every day. He wanted to disprove the law.

When Gyokeres was there, Dennis Lawrence, a member of Mark Robins’ backroom staff, said, “He has that ability to focus on and accomplish anything he wants.”

Hamberg, who was assistant manager when Gyokeres was at Brighton and remembers the young striker pushing for a loan move because he felt he was not getting enough minutes, adds:” What I like with him is that he’s quite stubborn.

His attitude is excellent, he said. He doesn’t just wait patiently for a moment. He really wants to grab it himself. He practices his acting, and all he needs is a dedicated person who can put a shift in. He can always rely on his work ethic when things go wrong.