25 Games In: Viktor Gyökeres

Viktor Gyokeres has been a slow-burner at Coventry City, but he is increasingly looking like a star turn for the team. Arriving back in January after a poor loan stint at Swansea City, Gyokeres looked short on confidence and quickly dropped out of the team once the team’s other strikers returned to fitness. The Swede looked set to join the long list of forgettable Coventry City loan players, until he was restored to the side towards the end of the campaign and put in a series of improved performances. Nonetheless, it was a surprise to see the club make his loan permanent, Gyokeres has quickly proved the wisdom of that decision.

On a base level, Viktor Gyokeres has all the elements in place to be an excellent striker. Strong, quick, technically-strong, and a prodigious hard-worker, Gyokeres is a fantastic outlet who consistently gets the team up the pitch. Despite his excellent start to the season, the biggest area of improvement in Gyokeres’ game is developing more confidence when in promising positions. Gyokeres tends to do a lot of the hard work in getting the team into good areas of the pitch, but can still be a little tame when it comes to attacking the ball in order to score goals. If he can develop that, he is going to be a scary prospect for Championship defences – given, he’s already scored three goals and assisted twice in the opening six games – and will quickly be ready to take the next step in his career.

It is clear why Viktor Gyokeres is such an important player for the team right now. A physically and technically-gifted striker with the right attitude, Gyokeres is an excellent focal point in attack who both threatens the opposing goal and puts in the hard yards to help the players around him excel. There is still improvement to be had in his game, which could transform this Coventry City side’s prospects if that can come this campaign. Gyokeres is a player on the right track, who could soon become recognised as one of the best all-round strikers in the Championship.