Arsenal are in the race to sign a £42m star who 'looks a lot like' Gyokeris

The last few days haven't been particularly fun for Arsenal sincere.

Mikel Arteta The side dropped more points in Premier League Thanks to a 1-1 draw away to Brighton & Hove Albion and then losing the first leg League Cup Semi-final against Newcastle United 2-0 at home.

Both games made it abundantly clear that the Gunners are in desperate need of some attacking reinforcements this year, and one striker who has been consistently linked With during the past six months It is Sporting CB Victor Geukeris.

However, while this may be unlikely Due to his huge penalty clausethe north Londoners have been linked with another young striker this week who has been compared to the free-scoring Swede.

Arsenal target the rising striker

According to A Recent reporting from journalist Graeme BaileyArsenal are one of several teams interested in young Sporting Lisbon striker, Konrad Harder.

Alongside Arsenal, Bailey revealed that fellow Premier League club Chelsea and West Ham United are just some of the other teams keen to bring the promising poacher to England as soon as this month, despite him only joining the Lisbon side in the summer.

Interestingly, despite there being a release clause of €80m – £67m – in his contract, the report revealed that it would take an offer worth around €50m, i.e. around £42m, to tempt the Portuguese giants into selling.

It could be a complicated and expensive move to get over the line, but given how well Harder has played this season and his comparison to Gyokeres, it's something worth fighting for.

How difficult it is compared to Gyokeres

Now, the first thing to make clear is that since Harder is still only 19 years old and in his first season with Sporting, it would be unfair to expect him to match Gyokeris' frankly ridiculous level of production over the course of an entire season. .

However, the young Dane is certainly not shy about scoring goals and has already racked up an impressive amount of goals Seven goals and three assists In 22 matches with the club’s first team.

Furthermore, what makes this impressive rate of return even more impressive is the fact that he achieved it in just 718 minutes, which amounts to a goal involvement rate every 71.8 minutes.

For context, the former Coventry City star has achieved a significant amount of 31 goals and six assists In 2,480 minutes of first-team action, this equates to a slightly better average of goalscored every 67 minutes.

However, what are the other similarities between the Scandinavian strikers, apart from their outstanding ability in front of goal.

Well, according to respected analyst Ben Mattinson In fact he described the teenager as He is “very similar” to the Stockholm-born star, with the pair sharing “running power, physical fitness and a powerful kick to the ball”.

However, he submits that, as things stand, the youngster is “moving on one foot”, although given his current rate of production as a substitute, this does not appear to be a major issue.

Ultimately, while Arsenal fans would understandably prefer their club go out and spend big on the fantastic Jockeys this year, that is looking increasingly unlikely.

So, if Arteta and company want to continue future-proofing the squad and sign a player very similar to the Swede for millions less, securing Harder's services could be the right move – as long as someone else doesn't beat them to it.