Gyokeres article - The Athletic (1 Viewer)

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EFL transfer targets: Viktor Gyokeres – the Coventry forward who makes his own chances

Brighton fans must be wondering why their club let the Swedish striker go to Coventry City for just £1million in 2021...

theathletic.com

For a club with a solid reputation in the transfer market, Brighton & Hove Albion fans might be wondering how the club let Viktor Gyokeres go for a reported fee of just over £1million.

Not that Coventry City fans mind with the way that the striker has performed since moving to the CBS Arena on a permanent deal in July 2021. Admittedly, the Sweden international had taken the steady road to establishing himself at senior level as he progressed through Brighton’s academy after moving to the English club from his homeland in 2018.

His best season in the Premier League 2 came in 2018-19 when he scored seven goals in 19 games before a loan move to St Pauli in the 2. Bundesliga saw him add another seven league goals in 26 games. Gyokeres found goals harder to come by on loan at Swansea City in 2020-21 when he scored just once but since moving to Coventry he has not looked back with 17 league goals and five assists in 45 games last season, and his 12 goals this campaign sees him lead the Championship goalscoring charts along with Middlesbrough’s Chuba Akpom.

Considering those numbers, it seems less of a surprise that Brighton saw logic in letting him go and Coventry has proven the perfect home given the style of football they play under Mark Robins.


The things that Gyokeres is good at align closely with some of Coventry’s strengths — thriving in transition and on the counter-attack. The 24-year-old was viewed as a mix between a winger and a No 9 while progressing through the ranks at Brighton and it shows in his dribbling ability, particularly when creating chances for himself from wide areas. Though he scores a mix of goals with feet and head, he is predominantly right-footed and often pulls wide to the left to cut inside, as shown from the still below in Coventry’s 1-0 win over Watford in November.

Here, he dribbled from just inside the half, cut across the defender and got a shot away which was blocked — but it was an effective way for Coventry to use an outlet to relieve pressure while Gyokeres was able to make things happen on his own. His ability to do this is best showcased when he scored the second goal in Coventry’s 2-0 win over Wigan Athletic in November by collecting a clearance and driving from his own half to score.

The goal is not dissimilar to another he scored in a 2-2 draw with Luton Town in September and his ability to carry the ball puts him second in the Championship behind QPR’s Ilias Chair for total chance creating carries this season (40), according to data from Stats Perform. Those carries — defined as a player running with the ball for five metres or more — often end with a shot, with Gyokeres producing 31 shots, second again to Chair in the whole of the second tier.

The reason he plays as a striker for Coventry is not just based on this quality, however. He is strong at running off the ball, turning defenders and linking up well with Matt Godden, Callum O’Hare and Coventry’s other attacking players. At Swansea, Gyokeres’ struggles were in part down to him being used as a lone striker while at Coventry he is less often used in that way, although he does struggle when playing against deep defensive blocks.

Below is one example of him linking well with players behind him as Kasey Palmer slips a through ball to him to turn and run onto in Coventry’s 1-0 win over Middlesbrough in October. In this case, goalkeeper Zack Steffen was out quickly to snuff out the danger.

But Gyokeres, who earned his first international call up with Sweden in 2019, often engages with the midfield in this way. His physicality does not necessarily show in aerial dominance from goal kicks, for example, but he has good spatial awareness and knows when he can turn and shoot if a defender is not close enough to him, as shown below from the 1-0 win over Blackburn Rovers in November.

 

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When a defender is marking him tightly and he receives the ball with his back to goal, he will usually drop the ball back to the feet of a midfielder and look to move elsewhere for a pass he can run on to or turn on and create.


The number of goals Gyokeres is scoring will naturally bring him to the attention of Premier League clubs, although it is clear his qualities mean he would be better suited to teams who thrive in transition. Game time has also been a factor that he has highlighted as a crucial reason for his success at Coventry, which is likely to see him challenge for the Championship Golden Boot if he continues his form.

“Mark Robins and Adi Viveash have really helped, and so too has all the game time,” he told Coventry’s club website before the World Cup break. “I am getting regular game time on the pitch, playing game after game, and that is how you develop the most. The most important thing is playing games. I’m happy to be here and playing this many games. I’m really enjoying it here and the fans are great. I had to wait to meet them due to COVID but it was really good from that point on. They drive me on when I need it and when they’re playing well they keep us going.”

Strong performances in Sweden’s international friendlies against Mexico and Algeria in November brought attention despite Sweden’s absence from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Coventry will not want to lose their star player who accounted for 28.3 per cent of their league goals last season but they look certain to make a profit when the right buyer comes in for him.

“It’s hard for me to say, I don’t know,” he recently told Swedish outlet Expressen of his future. “We’ll see that later. I enjoy Coventry. I get to play. It’s important to play a lot of games and be important in the team, not just move for the sake of moving.”

 

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Tbf most City supporters were surprised we paid a million for him!