Fulham boss Marco Silva has rejected the idea that new Arsenal striker Viktor Gyokeres was previously overlooked by Premier League clubs. The Portuguese coach has revealed that his side spoke to Gyokeres’ agent about a move to Craven Cottage a year before the Swedish striker joined Sporting CP.

Arsenal sealed a £63.7million deal to sign Gyokeres from Sporting after his prolific two years in Lisbon. The 27-year-old scored 97 goals in 102 games and Gunners boss Mikel Arteta, who described his new striker as outstanding, will hope Gyokeres can help end the club’s prolonged wait for a Premier League title.

Gyokeres’ journey has not been straightforward. He was loaned out several times by Brighton before flourishing at Coventry City. However, Fulham manager Silva has insisted that several Premier League clubs were aware of Gyokeres’ star quality in the Championship before he became one of the most sought-after strikers in Europe.

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“That story that nobody had noticed Gyokeres, that’s nonsense. The top clubs in England hadn’t noticed him, that’s obvious,” Silva told Canal 11, as reported by Portuguese outlet A Bola. “It’s not easy for a player to go from Coventry to a top club in England, and at that time, he wasn’t ready for that move.

“Now, as for mid-table clubs in England, all of them had noticed him. There were some offers to buy Gyokeres, at least during those two years when he stood out a bit more.

“I actually spoke with Gyokeres’ agent, or rather the club spoke with his agent, but at the time we also had a world-class striker in [Aleksandar] Mitrovic and he wasn’t so easy to replace. But of course we noticed him, not just because of the goals he scored, but it was clear that with space... he was a player with tremendous power, there’s no doubt.”

Fulham faced Gyokeres during their promotion-winning 2021/22 season. Coventry were the only side to defeat Silva’s team twice, with the striker scoring three goals across the two games and leaving a lasting impression on Silva.

“A player who already had good finishing ability, which, in my opinion, he has greatly improved since then,” Silva continued. “Now he’s a player who – even considering how Coventry played at that time – with space and against teams who pushed higher up and left space behind, between centre-back and full-back, that way he likes to attack space as well – he was naturally a player who made a big difference.

“In that season, when he played against Fulham, we usually had 60 to 70% possession, and it was an ideal game for him to play against us.”

Silva expects his Fulham side to face a different Gyokeres in an Arsenal shirt. He discussed how the Sweden international will strengthen the Gunners’ existing gameplan and give the team an extra dimension in attack.

“I think he’ll fit into a phase of play that Arsenal also have,” Silva said. “Regardless of being a big club, but perhaps among all title-chasing teams, they are maybe the team with the most consolidated and solid defensive phase. And they’re a team that, when out of possession and sitting deeper, aren’t too worried about it.

“They’re very strong in their initial pressing phase, but once that doesn’t work out, they have no problem dropping back clearly with two lines of four and their attacking midfielder and striker joining up well. And at that moment, there is lots of space to exploit; this will be a moment where Gyokeres will fit very well.”

However, Silva did outline some new challenges that Gyokeres may encounter while leading the line for the Gunners. “When it comes to positional attack, where Arsenal are clearly higher up the pitch, we'll see how well he adapts to that moment of the game, but since Arsenal have that quality and ability that you don't see so much at other clubs, he'll adapt very well in that respect,” Silva explained.

“I think it will have an impact. Now, whether it will have the same impact he had in Portugal, we'll have to analyse very carefully and see if it happens.”

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