‘Don’t go near him’ – Ex-Arsenal starlet reveals Viktor Gyokeres attribute which makes him ‘good fit’ for Gunners’ title charge

Viktor Gyokeres has displayed a ‘winning mentality’ which will frighten opponents according to a former Arsenal star.

The Swedish striker is closing in on his long-awaited move to the Emirates Stadium.

Gyokeres has been given permission to undergo a medical with the Gunners.

It comes after the club agreed a deal worth £55million plus a further £8.7million in add-ons with Sporting Lisbon.

The 27-year-old will arrive after two years in Portugal which saw him score 97 goals in just 102 appearances.

Prior to joining Sporting, Gyokeres starred in the Championship for Coventry.

His final season with the Sky Blues saw the club reach the play-off final as they agonisingly missed out on promotion.

Arsenal academy graduate Brooke Norton-Cuffy spent the second half of the campaign on loan at Coventry, making 24 appearances alongside Gyokeres.

The England under-21 international has now lifted the lid on what makes the prolific frontman tick.

Asked if their time together gave him a sense of what Gyokeres could achieve, Norton-Cuffy told Hawksbee & Jacobs: “Yeah, 100 per cent. He was so good.

“There were teams putting two, three players on him and he was managing to beat them or find a way to score. Just creating chances out of nothing and not just skill-wise, his mental side of the game.

“You can see he’s hungry, but if he doesn’t score, he’s not happy. For example in practice, small-sided games if his team loses you don’t want to go near him for a little bit.

“So that’s just a winning mentality Gyok’s got to win things.”

Gyokeres’ final campaign with the Sky Blues saw him score 21 goals and add 10 assists in 45 league matches as he finished second in the scoring charts.

It was not just opposition defenders who the towering forward terrorised, though.

Norton-Cuffy added: “Vik’s powerful. He’s 6’3” and he can move, change direction quickly.

“He can run, he can beat you and then once he creates those chances, normally puts them away as well.

“It’s just a handful, just a really big handful and a good fit for us.”

As well as facing off in training, the pair met once as opponents earlier in the 2022/23 campaign.

Lining up for Rotherham during a previous loan spell, Norton-Cuffy played the final 28 minutes off the bench.

However, he was unable to prevent Gyokeres from scoring a 92nd minute penalty to snatch a 2-2 draw for the hosts at the CBS Arena.

The on-loan full-back had fouled Callum O’Hare to concede the stoppage time spot-kick.

Norton-Cuffy went on to leave the Gunners for Italian side Genoa last summer without making a firs-team appearance.

He has since won international silverware, though, clinching the Under-21 Euros with England last summer.

Visit talkSPORT BET for all the latest summer transfer betting odds

^{18+ gambleaware.org}