\n<\/p>\n
Viktor Gyokeres is now a brilliant game-changer for Arsenal, having spent the majority of the season as an expensive flop.<\/p>\n
The truth lies somewhere in an awkward middle that admittedly makes for a less eye-catching judgement than either of those two extremes.<\/p>\n
But he is not alone as an expensive signing who has merely whelmed this season, going neither over nor under.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The 20-goal striker had reached a unicorn-like status in the Arsenal panacea pantheon, alongside a midfield general replacement for Patrick Vieira and a more streetwise defensive coach to build on the woke attacking foundations of Arsene Wenger.<\/p>\n
Rarely has a player emitted such Final Piece Of The Jigsaw energy<\/strong> as the solution to Arsenal\u2019s eternal runners-up puzzle.<\/p>\n Yet even in scoring 21 times across his debut campaign in England \u2013 already the best goal return of any player in a full Mikel Arteta season \u2013 Gyokeres has had his limitations exposed and credentials dismissed throughout.<\/p>\n The flat-track bully accusations came first<\/strong>fuelled by his first four Premier League goals until mid-December coming against Leeds, Nottingham Forest and Burnley.<\/p>\n There have also been allegations of stat-padding through penalties, with Gyokeres\u2019 standing as a bona fide flop seemingly assured long before he was dropped in the final straight for Kai Havertz.<\/p>\n Yet as Arteta pointed out in April, the final assessment of Gyokeres was always \u201cgoing to be defined in the last seven or eight weeks\u201d. The Champions League semi-final second-leg performance against Atletico Madrid<\/strong> and Fulham display in particular has already forced quite the U-turn.<\/p>\n The truth is that the hot-takeification of football has made it impossible to properly appraise a player like this: one signed for a substantial fee to help drag a trophyless team over the line, whose form has naturally ebbed and flowed as he acclimatises to a new club, league and country.<\/p>\n Gyokeres was never as bad as his critics made out, nor as good as the recent revisionism suggests. It makes for an unsatisfying, headline-averse middle ground but him being absolutely fine might well be what Arsenal needed to make that last step.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The suggestion that Manchester United might already be targeting a replacement for Mbeumo<\/strong> is manifestly absurd, but this hasn\u2019t been the standout first season initially teased by the Cameroon international.<\/p>\n Mbeumo immediately felt like a natural Manchester United player, one unencumbered by the weight of the shirt, the expectation and the levels of nonsense commensurate with moving to Old Trafford.<\/p>\n He and Matheus Cunha signalled a successful return to a revived transfer policy<\/strong> that underpinned much of the club\u2019s previous Premier League legacy.<\/p>\n But 10 games without scoring, the last eight of which have come with no assist either, underlines how Mbeumo\u2019s effectiveness has diminished significantly under Michael Carrick.<\/p>\n While nine goals and three assists is a decent return, it wouldn\u2019t clear Mbeumo\u2019s efforts in a far more limited Brentford team in 2022\/23 (nine goals and eight assists) or 2023\/24 (nine goals and seven assists), with last season\u2019s 20 goals and eight assists a reminder of the numbers the forward can produce at this level.<\/p>\n The point here is that Mbeumo should not have just one more combined goal and assist than Casemiro. Benjamin Sesko has as many but has played far less while adapting to a new league, while Matheus Cunha has spread his contributions out to avoid any slumps in form.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes when you watch Kerkez it\u2019s like having Darwin Nunez at left-back,\u201d was the damning comparison Jamie Carragher made<\/strong>. Gary Neville likened the left-back\u2019s brand of \u201cnaive\u201d defending to that of \u201ca youth-team player\u201d.<\/p>\n It was ostensibly the least risky signing of Liverpool\u2019s record-breaking summer. Both Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike needed time and patience to settle, Jeremie Frimpong was replacing a generational player in a position which had to be tactically remodelled, and Alexander Isak arrived with no pre-season.<\/p>\n Kerkez joined Liverpool early last summer, with two seasons of Premier League experience with Bournemouth and a clear route to a left-back spot Andy Robertson could no longer comfortably hold down.<\/p>\n Yet for a good few months, Kerkez drowned in the mess Liverpool\u2019s season became. Even now he is losing the battle for a starting place against a player who was almost sold in January and will be leaving at the end of the season.<\/p>\n It has been a tough learning curve for Kerkez at times but the sight of him clearing up various Virgil van Dijk messes from the bench<\/strong> has summed things up.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n His place on the Arsenal bus parade guestlist is assured, but Gareth\u2019s brother has not had a straightforward start to Premier League life.<\/p>\n Eight goals is a decent effort for a player signed on potential as much as anything. The brace against Manchester City came off the back of a seven-game run without scoring in a season in which his first goal came in December.<\/p>\n As David Moyes said: \u201cWe took a chance on a young up and coming striker, we tried to get him in quickly and early to see how he was going. He has not done bad. I actually think he is improving as he is going along. The first season in the Premier League, it is not that easy.\u201d<\/p>\n The Everton manager also pointed out that \u201cfootball supporters are not having much patience with many things\u201d in the modern day, and that \u201cthere is a bigger emphasis on: We need things now, we are looking for that to happen quickly\u201d.<\/p>\n Tony Hibbert would never have made it in this cruel world.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n It cost Brentford an initial \u00a337m to sign Ouattara, with \u00a35m in add-ons built into a club-record deal.<\/p>\n If they are activated based on club success, Bournemouth will likely be due a windfall soon from one of their closest rivals for European qualification.<\/p>\n But any clause dependent on individual performance might have to wait; while Ouattara has been good for the Bees, five goals and three assists leaves ample room for development, especially when he might be elevated to the status of a Champions League club\u2019s most expensive ever player by the end of the month.<\/p>\n He also helped kill the Panenka<\/strong>so there\u2019s that.<\/p>\n <\/div>\nBryan Mbeumo: Whelming at Manchester United<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Milos Kerkez: Whelming at Liverpool<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Thierno Barry: Whelming at Everton<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Dango Ouattara: Whelming at Brentford<\/strong><\/h2>\n