Inside Viktor Gyokeres' rollercoaster career as former team-mates and bosses tell Arsenal fans what to expect

The Sun

4 days ago

VIKTOR GYOKERES is the man Arsenal hope will lead them to the title following his sensational move back to England from Sporting Lisbon.
The Swedish striker, 27, has had a roller-coaster career already so far.
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SunSport has spoken to coaches, managers and players who have seen Gyokeres incredible rise to the top.
But do the words of those who know him best paint a picture of someone who can fire Arsenal to their first Premier League title since 2003-04?
IFK ASPUDDEN-TELLUS: 2004-2014
Bjorn Thuresson is chairman of the youth club where Gyokeres started age five until he was 16...
"We are a lovely, local club and attract players from the area. We do not own our pitches and we do not have any employees.
"Viktor's father, Stefan, was also his team's trainer the time he was with us. He had good players with him but Viktor the best of the lot. When he turned 16, he moved to IF Brommapojkarna.
"We are lucky because we have received solidarity payments. Fifa uses a thing called Clearing House to ensure training clubs receive compensation when young players are transferred to new clubs.
"It's for players aged between 12 and 20 so that relates to Viktor's time with us.
"We got a little when he went to Brighton and a little more when he went to Coventry. And now we could get a little more. A lot more, actually. So far, we have got over €200,000 (£173,000).
"We did not get paid by Brighton or Coventry but we got the money from Fifa.
"You see a massive spread sheet and see who gets what. We get roughly one per cent of a transfer fee so if Viktor's transfer fee to Arsenal is the sum we are reading, then it will be a lot (about £800,000).
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"In the past, we have used the money to invest in more equipment and send the players to more camps. It is quite incredible.
"Viktor has not visited us since he left but when some of our players go to the national team at youth level, and he sees which club they are from, he goes up to them and says hello.
"We are all proud of him."
IF BROMMAPOJKARNA: 2014-2017
Peter Kisfaludy was one of his youth coaches before he broke into the first team...
"The first time I met Viktor was when he was 11 and we took him to a tournament in Finland on loan from his youth club Aspudden-Tellus. Then, he joined the club at 16.
"At 13, he started at a school where I coach in the mornings before the first lessons. I have also coached Dejan Kulusevski and Lucas Bergvall there.
"Viktor was a late bloomer but he has the same goalscoring style he has now and was always like a tank running with a ball. You could also say he is like the Swedish Orient Express.
"He has always been a winner. For a long time, his girlfriend was the footballer Amanda Nilden who plays for Spurs.
"They went on holiday to Spain and she is really good at table tennis. They also had a game of tennis and she won so they did not speak for two days.
"They are both really bad losers.
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"It has been so nice to see him progress and he has not changed. This year, I was in Portugal scouting players when there was a massive power outage - along with Spain - and there was no electricity in either country.
"The restaurant would not make us food and I could not buy a bottle of water as I also had no cash and the card machines were not working.
"I called Vik and he said 'come to me'. I drove 30 minutes and he gave me lunch and gave me 100 Euros to spend in case the card machines were still not working.
"I have no doubt he will score many goals for Arsenal. If he scores twice, he will not be happy until he gets a third."
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BRIGHTON: 2018-2021
Former manager Chris Hughton...
"When he was at Brighton, he wasn't somebody that I thought was a natural finisher. He wasn't the type that you think will have one or two chances and he'll put one of them away. But you knew he would always get chances.
"You knew he would because he always put himself in a position to get them.
"If you asked me then, would I see him as a player that would play at one of the top clubs in the Premier League, then I would have to say probably no, more than yes.
"When he went to Coventry, that would have been a decision by the club where they asked themselves if they saw that he was going to be a regular in the first team. Was the development process going to take longer than what they were prepared to wait for?
"I watched him quite a few times when he was at Coventry. I was surprised that nobody took him, I must admit.
"We all know the bigger Premier League clubs want ready-made players. But certainly, I thought perhaps a club that had come up from the Championship into the Premier League or that group of Premier League clubs that are still fighting for survival might have taken him.
"What he's achieved is very much down to him. Going to Coventry and really developing his game, and then even more so abroad.
"He was a bright lad. Probably because of where he came from, his English was very good, which I think helped. He was a very mature lad, for a young one. He was a confident lad. I think he had a strong belief in his own abilities.
"If you're a No9 going to Arsenal, Liverpool, Man City, one thing you know is you're going to get lots of chances. I don't think it will faze him."
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ST PAULI (loan): 2019-20
Former assistant manager Andre Trulsen...
"I had not heard of Viktor when we signed him on loan from Brighton. We were a Bundesliga 2 club.
"But he came and joined us at St Pauli and I was very impressed. He was very physical and also knew how to use his attributes. He was eager to get better and worked hard to get more minutes during games.
"Before the winter break, he worked really hard to adjust to German football and to play in our system. His efforts paid off and he played more for us in the second half of the season.
"Viktor definitely played a part in us avoiding relegation and he gave everything. I could see his potential but as if often the case in football, you could not be sure he would be so successful.
"On more than one occasion, we had to tell him to leave the training pitch because he never wanted to stop trying to get better.
"I am sure his decision to come to Hamburg and play for St Pauli was helpful for his next step and I am so pleased he has done well in Portugal
"Hopefully, he can be a big player for Arsenal and can help them to success."
SWANSEA: Oct 2020 - Jan 2021
Former defender Ryan Bennett...
"There are big similarities for me between Viktor and Harry Kane.
"Viktor did not make many starts for us and was not at Swansea long and he was a bit sluggish although he did have a good mentality and was determined to succeed.
"When I was at Norwich, Harry came to us on loan and did not play much so went back to Spurs. Later on, when I played against Spurs and Harry was in the team, it was like defending against a different player.
"It was the same with Viktor after he left Swansea. I played against him after he had moved to Coventry and his power had developed, his mindset was different and he was more aggressive. Like Harry, he has turned into a really top player.
"Viktor was a nice guy but struggled in Swansea and he could not drive although lived near me and sometimes I drove him to training.
"I think it was also tough for him as his girlfriend at the time was a player and they had different schedules."
COVENTRY: January 2021 - July 23
Former manager Mark Robins...
"He is a brilliant lad. Good fun. Players loved him. Supporters loved him.
"He has such a dry sense of humour. He would sing in the dressing room at that point. We used to sing Sweet Caroline after every victory, regardless.
"He was almost robotic. He's metronomic with his timing, with his tempo, with everything that he did. That, in a nutshell, was why he did so well in that relatively short space of time and again, why he's gone on to do other things.
"When we first took him on loan in January 2021, he hadn't played for four or five months. But he came in and expected to start the first 10 games but there was no way on this planet that he was in a position to do that. So he needed to be patient.
"That's the thing with Vik, he's really focused, driven and in a rush. I remember against Charlton, in an Under-21s game, and he scored two goals and they were incredible. He showed power and pace.
"I asked him at the end of that game, 'You ready?' He started to contribute more and started to look more like a player.
"Towards the end of the season, you could see his trajectory was starting to go up. Then you could see he'd be a really good catch for the following season.
"There was a lot of work that I did during the summer to convince him to come permanently.
"He just went on to have two really good seasons. The second season, we just missed out on promotion, unfortunately. That was the only way we were going to keep him. And even then, we may have lost him.
"Sporting was a really good move. They had been interested for a long time.
"I think that move was already preordained and the decision was made.
"He's become one of the most talked-about strikers in Europe over the last 18 months but he deserves everything he gets because of his focus.
"At Arsenal, it will be really interesting to see where he goes and what he does."
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Matt Godden was his strike partner at Coventry...
"When he first came in, it was from January onwards, they signed him on loan from Brighton and he struggled a little bit.
"But then we signed him permanently that summer because obviously the coaching staff saw something, saw some potential in him.
"He came back that summer looking a completely different animal. It looked as though he had just gone away and smashed the gym. He came back an absolute animal and hit the ground running.
"From then, we spent two years playing together and scored quite a few goals between us.
"Then, he was adamant he was going to get us to the Premier League with his goals but unfortunately we lost on penalties to Luton.
"There's a brilliant picture of me and him against Luton (Sep 2022) at Kenilworth Road after he had scored and I've got him by the throat and the emotions are just so high. We were both so determined after a poor result away at Norwich.
"The story behind the picture is that there was all this stuff flying around that me and him didn't get along and we were both left out of the starting XI at Norwich, which was rare.
"The gaffer left us both out and I remember my wife ringing me on the way home saying 'there's all this stuff flying around social media saying you and Vik have had a fight and you're not getting on'.
"Vik was actually in the passenger seat of my car that day when she rang, I was giving him a lift to the airport and I said to my wife, 'Don't believe everything you read because he's sat next to me in the car! Nothing's gone on.'
"And the following game we played Luton needing a result because we were struggling. We went 1-0 down and he scored a great goal after showing unbelievable pace. I've got a picture of it where I've got him by the throat. It was just pure emotion.
"I play at Charlton now with Luton boys who beat us in the play-off final.
"And every one of them say he's the best all-round Championship striker they'd seen or played against.
"Sporting was a really clever move for him. He didn't want to go to a Premier League side that was going to struggle or a team that had been relegated into the Championship.
"If you're putting chances on his plate and playing to his strengths, he's going to have a real impact, and he's done it in the Champions League so is proven at the top level.
"There's no reason why he can't do well in the Premier League for Arsenal."