Trying to stop Viktor Gyökeres is like trying to hold back a thunderstorm with your bare hands. Over the past two seasons in Portugal, the Swedish striker wasn’t just dominant he was a force of nature.
With 68 goals in 66 league games for Sporting and another 29 across competitions, defenders didn’t just prepare for him they braced for impact.
Kewin Silva, former Moreirense goalkeeper, knows the pain all too well. “We’d have to foul him just to slow him down,” he admitted after Gyökeres tore them apart with a ruthless hat-trick.
The striker’s terrifying blend of speed, power, and finishing made him nearly impossible to contain.
But there were rare moments of success. Carlos Carvalhal, ex-Braga boss, laid out the blueprint after his side managed to suffocate Gyokeres in a 1-1 draw: anticipate his drift to the left, keep your right-back disciplined, and close ranks inside the box.
“He always wants to pull your defenders out of shape,” Carvalhal explained. “We just refused to give him space.”
Even that didn’t completely shut him down Gyokeres still scored in that match.
Another rare clean sheet came courtesy of Gil Vicente and their former captain, Ruben Fernandes. Their solution? Surround him. “We always had someone on top of him. Two, sometimes three. You can’t give him an inch.”
And now, he’s in the Premier League. Arsenal sealed a blockbuster €73.5 million deal for Gyokeres, a striker reborn after earlier stints at Brighton and Coventry. This isn’t the same raw talent from his Championship days this is a complete No. 9, molded in Lisbon with finesse, aggression, and a cold-blooded instinct for goals.
Premier League defenders, beware: he doesn’t stop. You just hope to survive.
