Martin Keown says Arsenal’s £63m transfer target is ‘not quick enough’

Martin Keown says he is concerned Sporting sensation Viktor Gyokeres may not be the right fit for Arsenal as he is ‘not quick enough’.

Gyokeres has emerged as one of the hottest properties in European football with his extraordinary goalscoring exploits for Sporting over the last 18 months.

Across an eye-catching season in Portugal, following a £16.5million move from Coventry City, Gyokeres scored 29 goals in 33 games to help Sporting win their 20th Primeira Liga title.

This term, Gyokeres has picked up where he left off despite Ruben Amorim’s recent departure, netting 18 times in his opening 14 appearances, with the Portuguese champions sitting two points clear of Porto at the top of the table.

The free-scoring Swede has also been firing on all cylinders in the Champions League, putting his name firmly in the shop window with a stunning hat-trick against Manchester City last month.

Gyokeres’ performances over the last two seasons have put many of Europe’s heavyweight sides on red alert, including the likes of Manchester United, Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich.

Arsenal have also been credited with a strong interest in recent months, with the north London club on the hunt for attacking reinforcements ahead of the January transfer window.

‘The players who are there at the moment need to start scoring goals fast, don’t they?’ ex-Arsenal and England defender Keown told The Oxford Mail following an event in his home city to promote his new book On The Edge.

‘Otherwise, Mikel [Arteta] will put his hands in his pocket and buy a forward.’

While recognising Arsenal’s possible need for attacking reinforcements, though, Keown is not convinced Gyokeres is the answer.

‘[Gyokeres] is not quick enough and he wouldn’t have been quick enough in my day,’ he added.

It was widely reported last month that Gyokeres favoured Manchester United over Arsenal and ‘had his heart set’ on pushing through a move to Old Trafford to be reunited with Amorim.

Sporting are aware of the interest in Gyokeres and have grown resigned to losing their prized possession next summer, with the club ready to do business should they receive a bid in the region of £63m.

The Sweden international’s current contract at the Jose Alvalade Stadium runs through to 2028.

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