Jamie Carragher believes 28-year-old Arsenal star Viktor Gyokeres cannot take Kai Havertz’s place following the win over Chelsea.
Arsenal ended their quest for the Premier League title last season following a 22-year wait. One of the big performers for the Gunners was Viktor Gyokeres, the 28-year-old Swedish striker, who produced a campaign with 14 goals in the league and 21 across all competitions.
However, Gyokeres has come in for plenty of criticism, with many views around his performances rather mixed. There were even rumours that the club could part ways with him in a bid to bring in a new striker, amid reported links to Julian Alvarez of Atletico Madrid.
The rumours around Alvarez have refused to go away, as Arsenal are already linked with another attempt ahead of the January window. However, as of now, Mikel Arteta is expected to continue the season with his two strikers, namely Gyokeres and Kai Havertz, with the latter clearly seen as the first choice at the moment.
Jamie Carragher makes Viktor Gyokeres claim
Gyokeres got his first Premier League minutes in Arsenal’s win over Chelsea at the Emirates on Sunday, as he replaced Havertz for the final phase of the game. The German had scored the equaliser and played a huge role in the eventual winner scored by Martin Odegaard, as former Liverpool star Jamie Carragher had high praise for Havertz and made a telling statement about the Swede through his comments that appeared in the Mirror.
Carragher said, “Viktor Gyokeres is never taking Kai Havertz’s place. To displace Havertz out of this team, you need to be one of the best players in the world; it has to be an Ian Wright or Thierry Henry, a guarantee of 30 goals a season. Gyokeres is never taking Havertz’s place, nor would [Morgan] Rogers, and it is not so much what they give you in attack, more what they give you as a team.”
“One of the reasons you cannot break Arsenal down is because of how well they press from the front, but then when the opposition get through that, they all get back behind the ball and Havertz is about 25–30 yards from his goal. You ask a world-class striker to do that…he will not do that.”
The idea from Carragher on the 28-year-old might seem a bit absurd and based on the current form of the two strikers. At the moment, Havertz is probably ahead of Gyokeres, but things could change in a moment with injuries and form likelty to play a role as a season progresses.
Last season too, Havertz missed a major chunk of the campaign with a knee problem, and Gyokeres expertly led the line in his absence. However, should Havertz continue in his impressive form, Carragher’s words could carry some weight, although this could become clearer as the season progresses.
