Arsenal urged to avoid £64m transfer mistake after Micah Richards claim | Football

Arsenal should be wary of selling Viktor Gyokeres in the January transfer window, according to former Gunners striker Jeremie Aliadiere.

Gyokeres produced his best performance of the season in midweek with a goal and an assist to help the Gunners beat Slavia Prague 2-1 in the Champions League.

But it has otherwise proved to be a frustrating few months for the Swede, who has started just one Premier League match for Mikel Arteta’s side so far this season.

Gyokeres amassed a respectable 21 goals in all competitions in his maiden season after arriving from Sporting CP for £64million, but now faces an uncertain future at the Emirates having fallen beneath Kai Havertz in the pecking order.

With speculation likely to mount ahead of the January window, some pundits, including Micah Richards, have suggested that the Gunners should look to move Gyokeres on.

But former Arsenal striker Aliadiere believes that might be a mistake and ultimately leave Arteta short of options at the top of the pitch.

‘I think it’s all depending on the finances how much they can get for him and who to replace him with,’ Aliadiere told Metro.

‘Because I think as much as obviously he’s not in the top 11 now because Havertz is preferred number one, you don’t want to sell him, get a good price and not be able to replace him.

‘If Havertz gets injured, which obviously we’ve seen in the past – he’s had a few injuries and he can pick up injuries – you just end up with no striker at all.

‘So I think it’s a very difficult January transfer window. Do you try to buy someone before you sell? I think when you look over the summer, selling Trossard and Martinelli before buying somebody.

‘Obviously, they go to Tzolis, but I’m not sure Tzolis was bought to be the first choice and when he is injured, you end up doing Eze on the left-hand side, and that’s not really his best position in my opinion.

‘So I don’t want it to happen with Gyokeres, thinking let’s try to sell him and recuperate a good transfer fee for him and then not replacing him.’

But even if Gyokeres remains at the club, Aliadiere can’t envisage the 28-year-old becoming the long-term solution to Arsenal’s search for a clinical striker.

‘I just feel the way Arsenal plays does not quite suit Gyokeres’ style of play,’ Aliadiere, speaking via football betting, added.

‘I’ve always been very quite patient and looking at the good stuff that he does, and I still feel that he does some amazing work. But I just do feel that the players don’t really give him the ball quick enough, which is what he needs.

‘He needs to be on 1v1. He needs to run the channel, get fed the ball quite quickly. And I feel we’re not really playing that way. We like to control the ball.

‘We like to control the tempo and just slow down the game. And I just feel Gyokeres is more of a counter-attacking player where he sees the space, he wants it quickly and then he’s on 1v1 and then he can then dominate physically.

‘But he’s rarely getting in that position, so I just find it difficult to kind of see him turning things around in a way of probably just being a rotation player.’

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