Latest news with #goalscorer
Telegraph
30-07-2025
- Sport
- Telegraph
VA-TA-RA: LiveScore Bet now pays out on disallowed goals
The 2025-26 Premier League season is nearly upon us and, ahead of the new campaign, LiveScore Bet has unveiled a new, groundbreaking promotion it is offering for existing customers. With the bookmaker's new 'VAR Payout' promotion, punters will be paid out on all Premier League goalscorer bets, regardless of whether the goal stands or is ruled out by VAR. LiveScore Bet promotion gives added security to goalscorer bets To say VAR (video assistant referee) has been controversial since its introduction to the Premier League in 2019-20 is an understatement. Last season alone, 108 decisions were overturned by VAR reviews in the Premier League, with 47 of those leading to disallowed goals. Numbers refer to decisions, not points Source: ESPN. With this new feature from LiveScore Bet, though, whenever you place a single, multi or bet builder pre-match bet on a player to score in any Premier League match, you will be paid out even if your player scores and the goal is disallowed by VAR for whatever reason. This promotion will apply to selected goalscorer player markets only, such as first goalscorer, anytime goalscorer or betting on a player to score multiple goals. If you are betting on a player to score or assist, note that only the goalscorer part of the bet is covered by the VAR Payout promotion. Already a LiveScore Bet member? Check out more free bets from the best betting sites, reviewed by our experts.
Yahoo
28-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
How will Gyokeres fare in Premier League?
"I don't think he's the guy," former England defender Rio Ferdinand said of Viktor Gyokeres on his Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast, when the striker was linked with Manchester United. "I've watched him probably three times really, really closely. And three times I've gone: 'He ain't getting that opportunity in the Prem'. Is there enough - after he's physically matched - to get him a goal?" Take a glance at the list of leading goalscorers in Europe's top leagues in 2024-25 and the usual suspects are there. Gyokeres, who is 6ft 2in, managed 39, though the Primeira Liga is not considered one of the top five leagues in Europe. The question is whether Gyokeres he can be prolific in a stronger league. He has just turned 27 and is yet to play in Europe's top five divisions - hence Ferdinand's comments. 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. There is little denying that Gyokeres is a goalscorer, but will he be such a success against elite-level defences? "Obviously with Arsenal's front players there's going to be competition," Bjorn Hamberg, Gyokeres' former assistant coach at Brighton and fellow Swede, told BBC Sport. "I think he's committed to let go again and obviously he understands that Arsenal will be another step up in the ladder. "At the same time, in his last few seasons, especially in the Champions League, you can see he is probably more prepared than ever to take that challenge on. "He improves every year and normally stays fit. 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. "So he's quite versatile in that sense and I think that's a really big thing in the Premier League." Read more on Viktor Gyokeres
BBC News
28-07-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
How will Gyokeres fare in Premier League?
"I don't think he's the guy," former England defender Rio Ferdinand said of Viktor Gyokeres on his Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast, when the striker was linked with Manchester United."I've watched him probably three times really, really closely. And three times I've gone: 'He ain't getting that opportunity in the Prem'. Is there enough - after he's physically matched - to get him a goal?"Take a glance at the list of leading goalscorers in Europe's top leagues in 2024-25 and the usual suspects are who is 6ft 2in, managed 39, though the Primeira Liga is not considered one of the top five leagues in question is whether Gyokeres he can be prolific in a stronger league. He has just turned 27 and is yet to play in Europe's top five divisions - hence Ferdinand's is perhaps worth noting 35% of his goals in 2024-25 came from penalties, as he successfully converted all 19 of his is little denying that Gyokeres is a goalscorer, but will he be such a success against elite-level defences?"Obviously with Arsenal's front players there's going to be competition," Bjorn Hamberg, Gyokeres' former assistant coach at Brighton and fellow Swede, told BBC Sport."I think he's committed to let go again and obviously he understands that Arsenal will be another step up in the ladder."At the same time, in his last few seasons, especially in the Champions League, you can see he is probably more prepared than ever to take that challenge on."He improves every year and normally stays fit. 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."So he's quite versatile in that sense and I think that's a really big thing in the Premier League."Read more on Viktor Gyokeres
The Guardian
27-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
The man behind the mask: why Viktor Gyökeres's celebration keeps the game guessing
Every goalscorer needs a trademark celebration and the one Viktor Gyökeres has shown off over the past few years has certainly increased its reach of late – fingers interlocked, thumbs pushed up, a mask formed across his mouth and nose. As Gyökeres's transfer from Sporting to Arsenal has edged along, fans of the London club became increasingly desperate for clues. They were convinced they spotted one when the defender, Riccardo Calafiori, was pictured at their kit launch with the shirt pulled up towards his eyes; mask-style. And then there was Myles Lewis-Skelly, another of their defenders, looking at a Gyökeres-to-Arsenal story on his phone and copying the gesture. What does it mean? There is a theory that it owes its inspiration to a line from the Tom Hardy character, Bane, in The Dark Knight Rises film. 'No-one cared who I was till I put on the mask,' he says. Is it Gyökeres's way of making a point to the doubters – and there have been a few of those along what has been an unconventional career path? 'No,' he told reporters in 2023 after a Sweden game. 'That's a good guess but you're completely wrong. You can have another guess the next time you interview me.' Why the secrecy, Viktor? 'I don't know,' he replied. 'It's fun when you guess wrong so I'll keep doing it.' Seriously, though, it has to be to silence the critics? 'No, it's not that, either. Now you've had two guesses and you have to stop. You can say it right once but I'll say it was wrong.' Gyökeres's manager at Coventry, Mark Robins, was once asked to explain it. 'I know what it means,' he said. 'Has he not told you? I won't be revealing it then.' And it is fair to say Gyökeres stirred the pot – and took delight in doing so – when he captioned an Instagram post in June of last year with a virtual re-quote of Hardy/Bane. 'Nobody cared until I put on the mask,' he wrote. Plainly, he thrives on keeping people guessing, especially defenders, and the whole shemozzle advertises more than the twinkle he has in his eye; the innate confidence of a showman. The 27-year-old appears keen to create a sense of mystique as he strives to become the best, an icon. And when it comes to Gyökeres, mystery is certainly a part of it. There is a brilliant clip of him from his time at Sporting when an interviewer asks how it is that people around Europe do not know of his talent. 'They don't?' Gyökeres shoots back. It talks to the curiosity fans have in general with regard to late bloomers. Gyökeres has never made an appearance in one of Europe's so-called 'big five' leagues. Apart from his two seasons with Sporting in the Primeira Liga, he has always played below the top division in various countries – in Sweden's second and third tiers with IF Brommapojkarna (BP, for short); the Premier League 2 with Brighton under-23s; the Bundesliga 2 with St Pauli; the Championship with Swansea and Coventry. Gyökeres was spectacular at Sporting, scoring 97 goals in 102 appearances. He won back-to-back league titles, back-to-back Golden Boots and the Portuguese Cup in his second season. He did well in his first Champions League campaign last time out, playing in all eight of Sporting's group stage ties and scoring six goals, the highlight being the hat-trick in the 4-1 win over Manchester City. Is the sample size large enough to justify Arsenal's £63.7m move for him? It is the jeopardy of the step up to the Premier League that enthrals and Gyökeres has been here before, albeit at a formative stage of his development. He was 19 when he went from BP to Brighton in January 2018 on the back of a breakout 2017; the seasons run on calendar years in Sweden. A regular for BP, he helped them to promotion from the second tier, scoring 13 goals and providing eight assists. At Brighton, then managed by Chris Hughton, there were a handful of cup appearances over the 18 months that followed but Gyökeres played mainly for the under-23s. He was an unused substitute on three occasions in the Premier League. Gyökeres had been turned from a winger into a central striker at BP – he went there on a full-time basis at 16 from his first club, Aspudden-Tellus, in Stockholm – but he alternated between playing on the left and up top at Brighton. 'I like Viktor,' Hughton says. 'He had a great desire to want to do well; very driven. If you ask me did I see what he is now back then, I would probably say no. But it was nothing to do with the boy's attitude, his work ethic. Football was very much his life. He was a good pro. 'It was almost more of a positional one. At the time, there was that question – is he going to be better as a nine or a wider player? He actually did well in that wider area in a 4-3-3, mostly on the left. Because he is a runner with and without the ball. Once he gets it he likes to drive. He's prepared to run forward with and without.' Gyökeres reached Coventry on an initial loan in January 2021 after a season at St Pauli in 2019-20 and three months at Swansea – both loans. He played an important role in helping St Pauli avoid relegation; they stayed in Germany's second division by two points. But Swansea was more of a struggle. He started only two league games for them, his only goal coming in the FA Cup. Robins remembers how Gyökeres was not match-ready at first for Coventry and he began by using him more as a substitute. 'You could tell it irked him,' Robins told Uefa's website last November. 'I said to everyone around: 'he's in a rush.' You could see he's in a rush for his career to take off. If he didn't score after a game, he'd be in a foul mood.' Gyökeres felt things turn after making his move from Brighton to Coventry permanent in the summer of 2021. There were 17 league goals in his first full season for them; 21 the next, which ended in the penalty shootout defeat against Luton in the Championship playoff final. Then came the explosion at Sporting. 'We would have said at Brighton he was a player who would get into a lot of positions to finish because of his effort and determination,' Hughton says. 'We wouldn't have seen him as somebody that was a natural finisher. What has happened with him is to do with confidence and opportunities – and continually putting himself in positions to have efforts at goal. Whatever we say about Sporting to Arsenal, it is still a big step up. But one thing that is guaranteed is he will get ample opportunities to score.' Gyökeres has done things the hard way. It feels like a long time ago he was starting out at Aspudden-Tellus, playing on a gravel pitch. His father, Stefan, a former player at Östersund, would be brought in to coach his team, which is normally a little bit strange for the child. And it had to be unsettling for the striker when he was advised to stay away from pre-season training at Sporting to force the transfer to Arsenal. Gyökeres needed to show his strength of character, as he has done when he was there but no one noticed, no one cared. Everybody sees him now.
Al Jazeera
26-07-2025
- Sport
- Al Jazeera
Gyokeres joins Arsenal from Sporting Lisbon
Arsenal have signed Sweden forward Viktor Gyokeres, bringing an end to the Premier League club's years-long search for a prolific goalscorer. Gyokeres completed a move from Sporting Lisbon on Saturday worth a reported 63 million pounds ($85m) and signed a five-year contract. 'Viktor is an exceptional talent and has consistently demonstrated he has the qualities and winning mentality required of a top-level centre-forward. His physicality, intelligence and work ethic make him a perfect fit for our vision,' said Arsenal sporting director Andrea Berta. The 27-year-old striker joins Arsenal after establishing himself as after two outstanding seasons in Portugal, in which he fired Lisbon to back-to-back league titles. He scored 82 goals in 85 games, including 48 last term, outscoring the likes of Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland and Mohamed Salah. One of the deadliest finishers in world football A top-class striker has long been considered the missing element for Arsenal, which came runner-up in each of the last three Premier League seasons. The failure to bring one in during the January transfer window badly undermined its attempts to challenge Liverpool for the title last term. 'The consistency he has shown in his performances and availability have been outstanding, and his goal contributions speak for themselves,' said manager Mikel Arteta. 'He is a quick and powerful presence up front, with incredible goalscoring numbers at club and international levels.' Gyokeres returns to England after joining Brighton as a youth player and later emerging at second-tier Coventry, where his 22 goals helped the team reach the playoff final in 2023. His record of 40 goals in 97 games for Coventry caught the attention of Lisbon and led to a 20.5 million pounds ($25m) move to the Portuguese club. His explosive form over the past two seasons has seen frequent speculation about a move to one of European football's giants, including Manchester United. But Arsenal has won the race for his signature, and the transfer represents a remarkable rise for a player who was first developed at Brommapojkarna, a Swedish club with a reputation for guiding the careers of some of the country's best emerging talents. 'He was a late developer because he was not the best striker or the best player in Brommapojkarna at age 16, 17, 18, 19,' Dalibor Savic, his former youth coach at the Swedish club, told The Associated Press in November. 'If he aims at something, he will achieve it.' Gyokeres will have to prove he can make the step up to the Premier League after failing to break through at Brighton, a club known for unearthing players like Moises Caicedo and Alexis Mac Allister in recent years. He only made eight appearances for the club and was loaned to St Pauli in Germany and Swansea before his permanent move to Coventry. His performances for Sweden and in the Champions League suggest he will be able to continue that form at Arsenal. He was the leading scorer in the Nations League, with nine goals, outscoring Cristiano Ronaldo and Haaland, and hit six in eight appearances in the Champions League for Lisbon last season.
