Arsenal hero makes confident goals prediction for ‘machine’ Viktor Gyokeres

Former Arsenal star Anders Limpar is very confident that Viktor Gyokeres is going to be a big hit with the Gunners.

The lengthy pursuit of the Swede is nearly at an end, with a deal to bring him to north London from Sporting on the verge of completion.

While the transfer saga has taken some twists and turns, reports emerged on Tuesday suggesting that a deal was imminent, much to the delight of one of his soon-to-be new teammates.

Arsenal will fork out €63.5million (£54.8m), plus €10m (£8.6m) in add-ons for the 27-year-old, hoping that the former Coventry star will help them make the final jump to claiming the Premier League title.

Limpar reckons he might just do that, rating his fellow Swede extremely highly, both on and off the field.

The 59-year-old, who played for Arsenal from 1990-94 and won the First Division title in ’91, reckons Gyokeres is going to grab 25 goals in his first season, which Gunners fans would surely be happy with.

‘I know that pretty much all the Arsenal players are top professionals,’ Limpar told fotbolldirekt. ‘I’ve been to the training ground, spoken to Arteta. He’s Mr. 100 percent professional.

‘And that’s what you get from Viktor. He’s such a prospect when it comes to looking after himself, no scandals, he is a hell of a player.

‘He’s a No. 9, and can sniff a goal chance. He’s going to be the perfect icing on the cake at Arsenal.

‘And I don’t have to look down on [Kai] Havertz, or [Gabriel] Jesus, but bringing in Viktor at this moment, at his best age and form.

‘He’s a goalscoring machine and with all the supply from the wings and from Odegaard, he’s going to score 25 goals.’

Gyokeres enjoyed a wildly successful time in Portugal, scoring 97 goals in 102 games for Sporting over two seasons.

This came after impressing for Coventry in the Championship, where he scored 21 goals in 46 league games in his final season with the club.

He also spent time with Brighton and Swansea, but has not made a Premier League appearance in his career yet.

Limpar is well placed to comment on Gyokeres as he worked with him early in his career at Swedish club Brommapojkarna.

Speaking last year, the former Gunners star said: ‘I know Gyokeres very well personally. I was a bit of a mentor for him when he played for Brommapojkarna.

‘So, I’ve talked a lot about professional life with him. He’s a fantastically hardworking forward who scores a lot of goals.

‘If we at Arsenal buy Gyokeres, then he will definitely call me. But to see Gyokeres at Arsenal – that would be crazy.

‘His work rate, he runs like a madman. When it doesn’t work out Viktor, he works his way into the game with uncomfortable runs.

‘When other top forwards aren’t doing well, they don’t work so hard for the team, they save their energy. Viktor never saves his energy. When things are a bit slow, he works his way into a game with runs – that’s why it has gone so well.’