Following a decent loan spell last season, Viktor Gyökeres has signed a permanent deal at Coventry City. Having struggled to command a starting place in the side for his first few months at the club, Gyökeres gradually improved and made himself a real handful for defences by the end of the season. The hope with signing Gyökeres permanently is that he continue that trajectory of performance level into the next campaign. However, there is a risk that Gyökeres performed well later in his loan spell due to the less-pressurised environment of end of season games. This is very much a gamble on a player potentially coming very good.
Gyökeres is a striker with a lot of strings to his bow, strong, mobile, fairly skilful and capable of linking the play. At his best, he promises to be effectively a one-man front-line. However, confidence appears to be an issue for him, which can see him lack an element of conviction when in promising positions. Whether that was down to a lack of a run of games at both Coventry City and Swansea City last season remains to be seen. Now 23 years old and having dropped down to the Championship, it is up to Gyökeres to start delivering on the promise he has showed in fits and starts as a younger footballer.
What is most curious about Gyökeres signing permanently is just how reluctant Mark Robins seemed to be to use him for an extended portion of last season. Just how much those performances towards the end of the campaign changed the manager’s thinking about the player, only Mark Robins will know. Gyökeres is now one of four strike options available to the manager, which puts pressure on him to perform whenever he is selected. As arguably the most complete of those options, Gyökeres has a niche, however, he is going to be judged this season on what he delivers, rather than what he promises to.
Sideways Sammy 