Owen: Arsenal Should Move On From Gyokeres as Striker Lacks Elite Quality

Michael Owen has delivered a damning assessment of Viktor Gyokeres, insisting Arsenal ought to reconsider their investment in the Swedish striker and questioning whether he possesses the calibre needed to compete at the highest level.

Just five months into his move to the Gunners for £55million, Gyokeres has already raised eyebrows with a meagre return of five league goals across 19 appearances. His latest underwhelming showing came against Liverpool, where he managed a mere eight touches before being substituted after the hour—a performance that crystallised Owen's growing doubts.

Speaking on Premier League Productions, Owen outlined the core of his concern. While acknowledging Arsenal's abundance of goalscoring talent elsewhere in the squad, he stressed that Gyokeres was supposed to provide the finishing flourish to a championship-contending team. Yet that search, Owen suggested, continues unabated.

"If the Champions League final was tomorrow night, I'm not sure he would start," Owen remarked, highlighting the striker's absence from consideration for Arsenal's most crucial fixtures.

The former Liverpool forward's critique centres on Gyokeres' stark inconsistency between matches of differing calibre. Against lesser opposition—Burnley, Nottingham Forest, Everton and their ilk—Gyokeres will likely prosper, finding the net regularly and occupying dangerous positions in the box. Against the elite, however, something fundamental shifts.

"To win these games, you need a bit of class," Owen stated plainly. "That's just where he lacks."

This assessment prompted Owen to deploy the unflattering label of "flat-track bully"—a player whose season-long tally might appear respectable on paper, yet whose contributions evaporate precisely when Arsenal need them most. The distinction between accumulating goals against modest sides and making a tangible difference in decisive encounters remains, Owen argued, the critical measure of a top-tier forward.

The broader context, Owen acknowledged, offers Arsenal some mitigation. Securing elite centre-forwards has proven a near-impossible task across the Premier League. Benjamin Sesko, for instance, has similarly struggled to hit the ground running since his move. The supply of world-class strikers willing to make the step up from continental leagues remains desperately thin.

"There's a dearth of centre forwards in world football at the moment," Owen observed. "Players scoring dozens and dozens of goals in Portugal bring something different when they arrive in the Premier League. It's a different ball game entirely."

This scarcity partly explains Mikel Arteta's predicament. Despite commanding substantial resources and conducting a thorough search, options remain limited. Yet Arsenal's general excellence has masked the striker problem for now, papering over cracks that may eventually prove decisive in the title race.

Still, Owen's verdict remains provisional. "The jury is definitely still out," he concluded, leaving the door open for Gyokeres to prove his doubters wrong—though time is rapidly running out for the Swede to demonstrate he merits the investment.