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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Tashan Deniran-Alleyne

'Gone next week': Arsenal fans have Viktor Gyokeres transfer theory after Barcelona 'meeting'

Arsenal supporters have been saying the same thing about Viktor Gyokeres following the 3-0 win over Coventry.

The Gunners began the defence of their Premier League crown on Friday night in comfortable fashion, with Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard all on target at the Emirates Stadium.

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With Ezri Konsa presented to supporters ahead of kick-off following his £55million move from Aston Villa, the only negative for Arsenal was the absence of summer signing Bruno Guimaraes, though Mikel Arteta is confident the midfielder’s injury is not too serious.

As the Premier League champions cruised to victory, it was notable that Viktor Gyokeres remained an unused substitute for only the fifth time for the Gunners as Havertz completed the full 90 minutes in north London.

The Sweden international was Arsenal’s leading scorer last season with 21 goals in all competitions, but has been linked with a move to Spain.

Earlier in the summer there had been talk of Gyokeres being used as makeweight in a swap deal for Atletico Madrid striker Julian Alvarez, but more recently there has been talk of a Barcelona switch.

Amid claims that Gyokeres’ agent had been in Barcelona since Monday, his no-show against Coventry has prompted some Arsenal fans to suggest a transfer is on the cards.

Arsenal, meanwhile, continue to be linked with Alvarez and have been urged by Gary Neville to sign the Argentina international amid a reported fresh transfer twist.

“What a squad he [Arteta] has built here and if he adds another forward into that then I don’t see how anyone can stop them” Neville said on Sky Sports.

“We think that Alvarez wants to go to Barcelona but if they could get Alvarez somehow Arsenal, that is going to light this place up because you’ve then got a world class striker to go with all the world class defenders and midfield players.”

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