20 years since leaving Arsenal, the £86m star is now far better than Gokeres

Ah, the elusive striker. It is one thing Arsenal and Mikel Arteta have had nightmares about all through 2025.

The Gunners entered this yr in dire want of a brand new centre-forward to guide the road. That demand elevated much more when Gabriel Jesus injured his anterior cruciate ligament within the FA Cup in January.

The winter interval handed with none reinforcements being added to the offensive line. Kai Havertz suffered a hamstring damage in early February, leaving Arteta’s staff in dire straits.

Leandro Trossard was one thing of an answer and the Belgian carried out nicely in 2025/26, however he was not the answer that received Arsenal the gold medal. It was Mikel Merino.

The Spaniard had an amazing 2025. He is one of many staff’s gamers of the yr and deserves all of the accolades he is getting.

At Dortmund, he was generally used as a stopgap centre-half, however Arteta has turned him into a very elite quantity 9. At Christmas, Merino had scored 30 objectives for membership and nation.

It is secure to say he had a significantly better yr than a sure Victor Gokeres.

Why Victor Gokeres is struggling at Arsenal

Arsenal probably did not signal a striker final January, however had been trying to keep away from a repeat of the identical in the summertime switch window.

The likes of Ollie Watkins and Benjamin Sesco had been focused, however the Gunners landed Gokeres as an alternative, with Andrea Berta main the cost.

On paper, he regarded like a strong signing. Arsenal paid £63.5 million for the striker, who scored 54 objectives in 52 video games final season. It regarded like a cut price contemplating Liverpool signed Alexander Isak for £125m and Nick Waltemaide moved to Newcastle for £69m.

Nonetheless, on reflection, it appears that evidently Arsenal might have wasted an excessive amount of cash on the Swedish striker. why? Properly, he is been a little bit underwhelmed to this point.

Objectives had been what Arteta desperately wanted as the continuing marketing campaign approached. Gökeres was introduced in to supply that, however heading into Christmas he discovered the again of the web simply seven instances within the well-known Purple and White recreation.

Nonetheless, an damage in November halted his progress at a brutal time. The previous Sporting man scored towards Burnley and regarded as if he had lastly discovered his footing in north London. He was compelled off at half-time and his type since getting back from damage has been extremely poor.

Gokeres had a complete of 38 touches in matches towards Aston Villa, Membership Brugge and Wolves. He additionally accomplished simply 12 passes in these video games.

After all, you need not contact the ball 1,000,000 instances to attain a purpose. Erling Haaland is proof of that. Sadly, Arsenal’s striker hasn’t scored as many objectives because the Norwegian.

He seems enthusiastic in entrance of the purpose, struggling to create probabilities for himself to attain. Arsenal are caught making an attempt to feed solely him.

Having Merino up high permits us to convey different gamers into play and get a wider vary of high quality from our strikers. However maybe extra worryingly, since getting back from his ACL damage, Jesus has regarded extra lively and extra prone to rating in his few cameos.

That was a crimson flag that was truly inflicting worry amongst supporters. Gokeres might not be the man to cause them to a title shot.

They’d have liked to have had a former Hail Ender amongst their ranks.

After leaving Arsenal, Hail Ender surpassed Gökeres.

It is no exaggeration to say that Arsenal have produced a wealth of unimaginable attacking expertise from Hale Finish over the previous few years.

Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe are two of the abilities that made Arteta’s early life as supervisor a lot simpler.

However we have additionally seen gamers like Ethan Nwaneri and Max Dauman escape. Elsewhere, AS Monaco forwards Mika Bielet and Folarin Balogun determined to flee English soccer and make a reputation for themselves on the continent.

The identical could be mentioned concerning the man Harry Kane. His story was exceptional. After being rejected and kicked out of Arsenal’s youth system as a boy, he bounced round to repay quite a few loans within the EFL earlier than changing into England and Tottenham Hotspur’s document goalscorer. He’s at present broadly considered among the best heart forwards in world soccer.

So let’s begin from the start. How did childhood gooner Kane determine to depart Arsenal?

Liam Brady as soon as recounted an incident 20 years in the past and revealed that the explanation Kane left was easy: “He was a bit chubby and never very athletic.” “We made a mistake,” Brady admitted.

In an alternate actuality, Kane is having fun with an amazing profession at Arsenal. Sadly for these concerned, that wasn’t the case.

It was with their fierce rivals, Spurs, that he gained worldwide reputation. He scored 280 objectives in 435 video games for the Lilywhites, establishing himself as among the best gamers this nation has ever seen. At worldwide stage, he’s an icon and can certainly go down as the best participant to ever put on an England shirt if the Three Lions win the World Cup subsequent summer time.

Gokeres, who scored greater than 50 objectives final season, beat Kane to be topped Europe’s finest scorer within the Gerd Muller Trophy in 2024/25, however the latter has confirmed this season that he’s the continent’s finest. He’s definitely far forward of Arsenal’s new quantity 14.

Sweden’s robust aspect have solely scored six objectives, however Kane is in nice type. The 32-year-old could also be within the latter levels of his profession, however he’s in the perfect type of his life, having scored an astonishing 30 objectives in 25 appearances for Bayern Munich this season.

After his £86m transfer from Spurs a number of years in the past, he continues to ascertain himself as the perfect striker within the recreation and is value each penny. Not even Haaland can match Kane’s numbers this season.

If solely Arteta might usher in a proficient striker like them. The title will certainly go in Emirates path.