In an era where there is a dearth of top-quality strikers, Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal could all head into next season with a number nine for defences across the Premier League to be wary of.
Erling Haaland is the name that stands out above the rest, considering he has cemented his status as one of the most natural goalscorers to have ever graced the English game.
With Arsenal closing in on Viktor Gyokeres’ signing, Mikel Arteta could finally have a bona fide goalscorer at his disposal since Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Meanwhile, Liverpool could sign Hugo Ekitike as well.
Ultimately, the team that scores the most goals tends to win the Premier League title, as has been the case for Manchester City throughout Pep Guardiola’s reign.
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Ale Moreno says Viktor Gyokeres has to be as impactful at Arsenal as Erling Haaland at Man City
While Liverpool already have an outstanding goalscorer in their ranks in Mohamed Salah, lessening the burden on Ekitike to do the business, the same cannot be said about Arsenal, who will be banking on Viktor Gyokeres to deliver.
From Pep Guardiola’s perspective, both Haaland and Phil Foden have proven that they can be relied upon to score goals at will.
On ESPN FC, Ale Moreno claimed that Gyokeres has to perform at Haaland’s level if he joins Arsenal if they intend to win the league, saying: “What I would say is, if Arsenal’s expectations, as they should be to win the Premier League, then what’s it going to take for Viktor Gyokeres? What sort of productivity do we need to have from this player in order for Arsenal to be in this title race? Well, you look at Liverpool, you look at Manchester City and you look at Mohamed Salah and you’re looking at Erling Haaland and somewhere around 40 goals a season in all competitions.”
“Now, he’s coming from scoring 54 at Sporting. I’m not going to devalue the importance of scoring 54 goals because that’s a lot of goals. That is a bunch of goals. Having said that, we need to assume that it’s going to be more difficult for him in the Premier League and that his level of productivity and consistency needs to be at the level of Salah and Erling Haaland. Now, that’s a historic level but that’s what it’s going to take for Arsenal to turn those games that you mentioned, those draws into wins.”
“And to be actually be there in the end where they think they should be.”
Pep Guardiola’s Viktor Gyokeres verdict is good news for Man City and bad news for Arsenal
Gabriel Magalhaes described Haaland as “awesome” despite his heated battles with the Norwegian, which highlights how much respect the 25-year-old commands.
“He’s blurry, he’s awesome, you blink and he’s celebrating. He’s really fast and really strong. He’s really him. He’s taller than me and he’s really strong.”
As a result, Manchester City need not worry about their number nine’s productivity next season, considering he already has 124 goals in 146 games for the Sky Blues.
Pep Guardiola claimed Gyokeres wouldn’t start for Manchester City over Haaland in November last year as well, saying: “We have Erling Haaland, the best striker in the world. Gyokeres is a very important player for them but he has been with [Ruben] Amorim for a long time, you can see the patterns, the joy.”
By Guardiola’s logic, Ale Moreno’s claim about Gyokeres needing to be as impactful at Arsenal as Haaland has been for Manchester City could fail to come to fruition, giving them an edge in the title race.
