Michael Owen believes Arsenal should get rid of ‘flat track bully’ Viktor Gyokeres as he lacks the ‘class’ needed to be a top level Premier League player.
It is only five months since Gyokeres signed for Arsenal in a £55million deal but it already looks as if the London side have overpaid as the striker has scored just five league goals in 19 matches.
He was anonymous again against Liverpool with the Swede having just eight touches before being hooked just after the hour mark and it was that game that prompted Owen to suggest the Gunners were better without him.
“We were on the pitch four or five minutes before kick-off and we were discussing him,” Owen said on Premier League Productions. “I said then, ‘The jury is out’, and I still feel the same way at the moment,”
“Fortunately for Arsenal, they’ve got lots of other players who can score goals.
“They wanted him to put the finishing touches on this team and they’re probably still searching for that person.
“If the Champions League final was tomorrow night, I’m not sure he would start.
“They will continue and persist with him, of course, because they paid so much money, you want to give him all the chances.
“And do you know what? Against Burnley, against Nottingham Forest, against Everton, whoever it might be, he probably is going to score a lot of goals, he can finish, he will be in the box.
“But to win these games [against Liverpool], you need a bit of class, you just need a bit of class and that’s just where he lacks.”
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Owen’s assertion that Gyokeres could score goals against teams lower down the table and not the top end caused him to label Gyokeres a “flat-track bully” and a player who would not make the difference in big games.
“There’s a bit of a saying, a flat-track bully, I think he could be that type,” Owen said.
“Playing at home against lesser teams, he’ll score one, two, maybe even the odd hat-trick, he’ll take penalties, at the end of the season you’ll look at it and probably think ‘Do you know what, he’s got into double figures, not a bad return’.
“However, when you look closely at it, did he make a difference in the big games, the ones where you really need your big players? And sadly so far, only half the season gone, it’s a no, and as I say, the jury is definitely still out.”
Owen continued: “They [strikers] are not easy to find. You look in the Premier League at who people have signed over the last season, [Benjamin] Sesko, okay, scored a couple last night but he’s not hit the ground running, Gyokeres, not really.
“The Premier League teams are bringing some of the best players on the market from around the world and not many are hitting the ground running.
“There’s a dearth of centre forwards in world football at the moment. Players like Gyokeres scoring dozens and dozens of goals in a season in Portugal, bring him to the Premier League and it’s a different ball game. There’s not many out there.
“I feel sorry for Mikel Arteta in a way in that he knows that was a problem and you search around the world, you’ve got a big pot of money to spend, what are the options… there are not many options around as you can quite clearly see. It’s not an easy position to fill at the moment.
“As we all know, Arsenal have done so well that it’s probably being papered over the cracks at the minute, but the bottom line is the jury is out, I’m not sure he is the long-term answer.”
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