Arsenal still haven’t signed a new striker.
Mikel Arteta will welcome many of his players back for pre-season this week, and as things stand, a new centre-forward is unlikely to arrive before the camp starts.
However, Andrea Berta is working very hard to sign a new striker, and Viktor Gyokeres has emerged as Arsenal’s top target this summer.
Now, Arsenal could find it slightly easier to strike a deal for him.
Viktor Gyokeres is open to a loan move to Arsenal
Arsenal and Sporting CP have been in negotiations over a price for Viktor Gyokeres.
The Portuguese champions have been very firm on their demands, even though Gyokeres and Sporting had a gentleman’s agreement to leave for around £55 million.
Arsenal would like to pay a smaller fee than what Sporting are demanding, but so far, there has been no agreement between the two sides.
Since a middle ground is proving to be difficult to find for the two clubs, Gyokeres — who has been hailed as ‘the best striker in Europe’ — and his camp have an idea to make sure everyone gets what they want.
Journalist Dean Scoggins claimed on The Sun Sport’s Transfers Exposed show: “I think we’ve got to the point where the Gyokeres would take a loan deal as a sort of meeting point.
“It would be a loan with an obligation to buy. That then is another option that comes within a deal of this size. I think we will be talking about £68-69 million, something like that.”
Scoggins also added: “He would go on loan to another European club, not just Arsenal. He would be open to it, as long as he doesn’t go back to Sporting.”
It remains to be seen, however, if Sporting would be willing to accept a loan deal.
Arsenal have one very worrying issue with another loan deal
A loan deal for a striker like Gyokeres would be very smart business, especially if Andrea Berta can negotiate an option-to-buy clause instead of an obligation.
Arsenal could then just see how he fares and make a decision on whether they want to spend big money on him in 12 months’ time.
However, the big issue is that Arsenal’s recent loan deals have not been great at all.
| Arsenal’s last five loan arrivals | Hit or Flop? |
| Raheem Sterling | Flop |
| Neto | Flop |
| David Raya | Hit |
| Martin Odegaard | Hit |
| Mathew Ryan | Flop |
As the table shows above, three of Arsenal’s last five loan deals haven’t really worked out, and that makes another temporary move really worrying.
To add to that, if Sporting accept a loan deal but insist on an obligation-to-buy clause, Arsenal run the risk of paying massive money for Gyokeres even if he has a bad season.
A smart loan deal would be fantastic business from Berta, but only time will tell if Sporting agree to a move with just an option to buy.