Izuchukwu OkosiAnglo-Nigerian striker Chuba Akpom has weighed in on the controversial choice of strikers by Arsenal in the summer transfer window.
The Gunners are reportedly locked in negotiations with the representatives of the strikers ahead of the start of the new 2025/2026 season.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelArsenal have pursued a deal for Sesko for about a year now but the Slovenian elected to renew his contract last year.
The striker is said to be open to moving to Arsenal but with the condition that a buyout clause is inserted in his contract as well as asking for a huge salary.
Gyokores on his part had been having a running battle with the Sporting CP President, Frederico Varandas over the latter’s reneging of a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ on leaving the club this summer for a reasonable offer from interested clubs.
Akpom describes Gyokores as “a beast” while
Akpom said in a TikTok video via TBR Football:
“Gyokeres for me, and it’s not even close, to be honest.
“It’s subjective isn’t it, you can talk about the age of Sesko but Gyokeres is ready now, you know I played against him in the Championship, he took Coventry to the play-off finals basically alone, with one or two other players, and he’s gone to Portugal and he’s scored, what is it? 50 goals in both seasons?”
“If Arsenal are looking for now then it’s Gyokeres and if Arsenal had Gyokeres the past few seasons, I’m not saying we would have won the Premier League but I think Gyokeres is a beast and we need him now.”
Chuba Akpom was with Arsenal from his academy days at Hale End before moving to Ajax in 2023.
The forward whose father is from Onitsha, Anambra State, and still eligible to play for Nigeria was on loan at Lille since January and scored three goals in 14 Ligue1 matches.
Sporting CP Frederico Varandas in a rant while responding to questions from the media was adamant earlier this month that they would not sell Viktor Gyokeres for cheap.
He insisted that the Manchester United target will not be held to his €100 million release clause, but a deal is not going to be done for €70 million.
He said:
“I can guarantee that Viktor Gyokeres will not leave for 60 million euros plus 10 million euros because I never promised that.
“To this day Sporting has not had an offer for Gyokeres, neither today nor last season. It’s not worth us setting a value because I don’t know what will happen in a year’s time. I don’t know if it will be 40 million euros, 60 million euros or 80 million euros.
“What I can guarantee is that I will not demand 100 million Euros.”
Gyokeres was reportedly not happy with the comments and took to Instagram and wrote:
“There’s a lot of talk at the moment, most of it is false. I will speak when the time is right.”Aside Arsenal, Manchester United are also interested in signing Viktor Gyokeres this summer. The striker is keen on leaving Portugal and is pushing for a move to the Premier League.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
