Just a week shy of five months since Viktor Gyokeres arrived in London, Mikel Arteta took the opportunity to take stock of the Swede’s contribution to Arsenal’s good form this season, ahead of the game in Liverpool with Everton, this Saturday.
This assessment is positive, but the Spanish coach recognizes some difficulties, especially at the beginning of the season. “I think the level of attention on him hasn’t changed since he signed until today. He’s normal. Everyone was very excited to bring him to the club. He had to adapt to the league and [no início] It was difficult, because physically I wasn’t at my best”, he said, remembering that he didn’t play pre-season at Sporting.
«He is a player who needs that to perform well. Then he took off. He had a very good period and then he got injured. I saw a lot of positive things in the last two games”, he pointed out, at a press conference, and the forward returned five games ago, the last two as a starter, and still hasn’t scored, despite conceding 6 goals in 19 games this season.
Faced with competition from the ex-Sporting player for the attack, Arteta spoke of Merino and Havertz, injured, but not Gabriel Jesus, already recovered. «Merino is an option and gave us every reason to consider it really seriously. Look at the goals he scored”, he said, having already adapted the midfielder as a striker in several games.
«Havertz is progressing very well and quite quickly in the last few weeks. We are very optimistic that, if everything continues like this in the next training sessions, he will be with us soon. I have [uma data de regresso]but I don’t want to say, because I think in the last part of the rehabilitation we need to be cautious. I will have to be firm every step of the way to ensure that when he returns, it is to stay for a long time”, explained the situation of the German, who has not yet played in 2025/26.
Mikel Arteta is also just three days away from six years as Arsenal coach and, despite the lack of titles, the Spaniard only has positive things to say about this period and was enthusiastic about the future. «It went by quickly. A lot of things have happened, but it’s been an incredible journey and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. What do I want for Christmas? Win, win, win, win, win. The rest will come naturally, but all my energy would be much better, so that’s what I want», he stated.
«Was you waiting six years? I don’t know. I would still have wanted to train at the highest level, I came to a club that is in a difficult phase in its history. You have to face this work day by day. I do the same thing today as I did on the first day. Make sure people are on board with you and what you do, and that’s it. In the end, in my work, what matters is winning football games, that’s it», he added.
