82 Premier League goals: Arsenal almost signed a better striker than Gyokeres for less money

Gyokeres was hugely productive at former club Sporting Lisbon, finding the net a whopping 97 times in 102 appearances over two seasons.

This prompted Arsenal to pay £64 million to sign the Sweden international from Sporting last summer BBC Sports), with the deal looking exciting to give Mikel Arteta a more natural goalscorer than other forwards such as Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus.

Arsenal will now certainly be wondering whether this was the right decision, as Gyokeres hasn’t been nearly as impressive since coming to what is clearly a much more competitive league.

Viktor Gyokeres at Arsenal this season versus Sporting last season

Gyokeres needs to improve quickly because even if he never scores as many goals for Arsenal as he did at Sporting, his numbers so far are far below what the club expected.

See below for some key stats comparing the 27-year-old’s form for Arsenal this season to how he played for Sporting last season…

Spending a lot on someone who has never played in the Premier League was perhaps always going to be a bit of a gamble, so should Arsenal have opted to go all out for someone who has already shown he can do it at this level?

Because that’s what almost happened just a few months earlier when they tried to sign Ollie Watkins from Aston Villa.

The England international has scored 82 goals in 205 Premier League games for Villa BBC Sports reported last January that the Gunners were trying to sign him for £60 million.

That’s not a huge difference in terms of the fee, but it’s still slightly less as it’s certainly a much safer option to come in and give AFC the goal threat they needed.

Could Ollie Watkins have done something for Arsenal?

Watkins has been a key player in this impressive Villa team, although it is worth noting that his own form has dipped slightly this season.

The 30-year-old has scored seven goals in 28 appearances in all competitions so far this season, so it doesn’t seem obvious that he will match last year’s 17, and almost certainly not the 27 from the year before.

But if you look at other key stats, like the chart below, you can also see that Watkins offers better all-round play than Gyokeres…

There are no guarantees in football, with Gyokeres alongside other big players like Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz having proven disappointing this season, but Watkins looks like he could be an option worth considering for Arsenal.

The Villa forward may only offer a similar goal threat, but for defenders he is more of a handful with the number of touches he takes and the chances he creates for his teammates.

Arsenal ultimately decided this deal wasn’t worth it and went for Gyokeres instead, but how long will they live to regret it?