As the transfer rumour mill continues to churn this summer, Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has ruled out an exit for one of his players.
Viktor Gyokeres only arrived at the Emirates last summer after Arsenal won a packed race to sign him from Sporting.
After two prolific seasons in Portugal, a number of Europe’s top clubs were linked with the Swede and it was Arsenal who snapped him up for £64m.
After a year in north London, Gyokeres is a Premier League champion, having scored 21 times in 55 games across his opening season.
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That’s a solid enough return, but clearly not at the levels he was producing with Sporting, where he scored 97 times in 102 appearances.
Some Arsenal fans remain unconvinced that he is the man to lead the line for the Gunners, while his manager has also not shown full faith in him.
Gyokeres was on the bench for the Champions League final last season, with Kai Havertz picked ahead of him.
With Arsenal linked with summer moves for the likes of Julian Alvarez and Vinicius Jr, Gyokers’ future has already been called into question.
However, Arteta has made it clear where he stands on the matter.
‘He’s going to stay,’ the Spaniard said after Arsenal beat Girona 4-1 in a friendly on Saturday.
Gyokeres started that win, with Havertz scoring the opener and new signing on the left wing Christos Tzolis also netting.
Arteta made it clear that he expects more action in the transfer market this month, as Arsenal continue their pursuit of Newcastle’s Bruno Guimaraes and are linked with that blockbuster move for Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr.
‘Well, we are really active, trying to improve and evolve the team. That’s clear,’ he said.
‘We expect to have movements in the next few weeks, obviously, because we want to get better like anybody else. And you can just see the transfer market and our opponents.
‘What we are doing, we won’t sit still and we are very ambitious in what we want to do.’
Gabriel Jesus has found himself become third choice up front, but played and scored on Saturday and his future remains unclear.
Jesus has dropped something of a hint over where he might like to play next season if his opportunities remain limited in London, talking up his love of Italian football, while referencing his two goals in a 3-1 win at Inter Milan in January.
Speaking to Italian publication Gazzetta dello Sport, he said: ‘I grew up watching Serie A and dreamed of playing in Italy.
‘Scoring two goals at San Siro against Inter was like making that dream come true. I don’t know my future, I’m working now and we’ll see what happens with Arsenal.’