Deal Signed: Arsenal has just made another top transfer signing as the Viktor Gyokeres’ perfect partner joined the Gunners on six-years deal

Last year, Arsenal finished second in the Premier League for the third successive season, but who can deny that Mikel Arteta’s burgeoning side have gotten better and better since the start of his reign?

Injuries ruined what could have been the year for the Gunners, but Arteta and new Emirates technical director Andrea Berta have come together and devised a summer plan, which is angled toward trophy-winning success in 2025/26.

A host of signings have been welcomed to north London over the past two months, but it’s the latest which is the most exciting, the most emphatic.

Maybe, having signed Viktor Gyokeres, Arsenal have what they need to crown the Arteta era.

Why Arsenal signed Viktor Gyokeres

Arsenal have needed a reliable frontman for some time, one who will provide a confident stream of goals across the campaign.

And in Gyokeres, they have their man. Having bagged 97 goals and 28 assists besides over just two years with Sporting Lisbon, it’s inconceivable that the 27-year-old won’t bring a degree of prolificness beyond that of the Gunners’ current crop.

Despite interest from elsewhere – namely from Manchester United – Arsenal have agreed a deal worth £64m for the Swede, who will finalise his big-money move this weekend.

Many supporters, no doubt, would have liked to have signed Alexander Isak from Newcastle United. The Sweden striker, Gyokeres’ countryman, has informed his club that he wishes to explore a move away, with Liverpool leading the race for his signature.

Arsenal might not sign Isak, but they have one of the game’s most clinical strikers all the same. And anyway, with Bukayo Saka fully fit and raring to take the division by storm next year, the soon-to-be No. 14 is in safe hands.

In fact, it is Saka who stands above these other players. Arsenal have hit the jackpot on their homegrown hero, who is undoubtedly the cream of the crop.

Arsenal have hit the jackpot on Bukayo Saka
Saka, 23, is one of the Premier League’s leading players. Pundit Karen Carney has said that “it’s scary how good he will be in three or four years”, and she’s right.

He’s the real deal, all right, and he’s already proven himself to be a game-changing player of the highest standard. After breaking out of the famed Hale End academy, he has made 263 senior appearances for Arsenal, scoring 70 goals and providing 71 assists.

You felt this throughout the 2024/25 campaign, with Saka sidelined for a significant stretch after Christmas that ultimately proved detrimental in the quest for silverware.

But he is, of course, fit again, and will play an instrumental role for club and country next season, challenging for the biggest prizes in red before donning that white shirt and fighting for gold over the pond with Thomas Tuchel’s England.

There’s indeed a case to be made that he is one of the most valuable players in the game, worldwide. This is actually backed up by the numbers, with one site penning him down above two aforementioned names.

Well, according to the renowned research centre CIES Football Observatory, the £98m-rated Saka is valued higher than both Isak and Gyokeres.

Newcastle’s centre-forward is only marginally behind the Three Lions sensation at £97m, while Gyokeres falls some way below at £68m, and this is reflected in the sealed deal for the number nine in north London.

Isak, of course, has a price tag of £130m as Newcastle prepare for his potential, but Saka, too, would demand an astronomical amount if any suitors approached Arsenal.

It bears testament to Saka’s inborn ability, his work-rate and indeed Arteta’s shrewd coaching that he has reached this level. He has many levels yet to go, but at this stage already, he is undoubtedly “world-class”, as has been said by pundit Rio Ferdinand.

Arsenal might have a prolific marksman in Gyokeres, and Isak may have been labelled “the best striker in the Premier League” last season by Sky Sports’ Jamie Carragher, but Saka is something special, something different.