The last few days were not particularly pleasant for them Arsenal faithful.
by Mikel Arteta side lost more points in Premier League thanks to a 1-1 draw away to Brighton & Hove Albion and then lost their first game League Cup Semi-final over Newcastle 2-0 at home.
Both games have made it clear that the Gunners are in desperate need of some attacking reinforcements this year, and one of the strikers is firmly linked. with the last six months is Sporting CP’s Viktor Gyokers.
However, while this may be unlikely given his mammoth release clausethe north Londoners have been linked with another young striker this week who are being compared to the free-scoring Swede.
Arsenal are targeting the up-and-coming striker
According to a recent report by journalist Graeme BaileyArsenal are one of several clubs interested in young Sporting CP striker Konrad Harder.
Along with the Gunners, Bailey revealed that fellow Premier League sides Chelsea and West Ham United are just some of the other clubs keen to bring the promising poacher to England just this month, despite him joining Lisbon just in summer.
Interestingly, despite having an €80m – £67m – release clause in his contract, the report revealed that an offer of around €50m, which is around £42m, would be needed to tempt the Portuguese giants to sell.
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It could be a complicated and expensive transfer to get over the line, but given how well Harder is playing this season and the comparisons to Gyokeres, it’s worth fighting for.
How much harder compared to Gyokeres
Now, the first thing to make clear is that with Harder still only 19 years old and in his first campaign with Sporting, it would be unfair to expect him to match Gyokeres’ frankly absurd level of performance over the course of the entire season. .
However, the young Dane is certainly not goal shy and has already amassed quite an impressive haul seven goals and three assists in 22 first team appearances for the club.
What’s more, what makes this already great rate of return even more impressive is the fact that he achieved it in just 718 minutes, which averages out to a goal every 71.8 minutes.
|
Harder vs Gyokeres at Sporting |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Player |
||
|
Appearances |
22 |
29 |
|
Minutes |
718′ |
2480′ |
|
Goals |
7 |
31 |
|
It helps |
3 |
6 |
|
Goal contributions per match |
0.45 |
1.27 |
|
Minutes per Target Participation |
71.8′ |
67′ |
|
All stats via Transfermarkt |
||
For context, the former Coventry City star has amassed a lot 31 goals and six assists in 2480 minutes of first-team action, which equates to a slightly better average of being involved in a goal every 67 minutes.
With these, what are the other similarities between the two Scandinavian strikers, apart from their excellent ability in front of goal that is.
Well, according to respected analyst Ben Mattinson, who in fact he described the teenager as “Very similar” to the Stockholm-born star, the pair share “running power, physicality and powerful ball striking”.
However, he prefaces that as things stand, the young man is “a lot more one-legged”, although given his current rate of performance as a researcher, this doesn’t seem to be a huge problem.
Ultimately, while Arsenal fans would logically prefer their club to go out and shell out big money for the ultra-prodigious Gyokeres this year, that is looking increasingly unlikely.
So if Arteta and Co want to continue protecting the club and sign a very similar player to the Swede for millions less, then securing Harder’s services could be the right move – as long as someone else doesn’t beat them to it .
