After winning the treble last season, Pep Guardiola is once again seeking to bring glory to Manchester. But, this season they seem to struggle in certain matches, especially against the bigger teams. The team looks a bit weaker than the previous season, but they are still capable of winning the treble once more.
Not long ago, Guardiola stated that he struggles to motivate his players in the long run. Because of that, he engages in squad rotations to keep the quality on a higher level. But, he is also fond of new signings to bring new energy to the team. Recently, there have been some speculations about Viktor Gyökeres joining Manchester City next season.
Who Is Viktor Gyökeres
Viktor Gyökeres is a 25-year-old striker who currently plays for Sporting CP. This Swedish football player joined the Portuguese team last summer and his first season has been astonishing so far.
He currently has 36 goals and 15 assists in a total of 42 matches in all competitions. These are amazing numbers for a striker that was almost unknown in the world of football.
Gyökeres was of great help to his team during the UEFA Europa League group stage matches where he scored 3 goals. Unfortunately, Sporting CP failed to book a place in the quarter-finals following an elimination from Atalanta.
However, Sporting CP are still in play in their domestic league, where they are currently at the top of the table. Here, we must mention that Gyökeres is the top scorer in this competition with 22 goals in 26 matches. This makes him an irreplaceable player for his team.
Before joining Sporting CP, Gyökeres played for the Swedish team Brommapojkarna. In 2017, he joined Brighton & Hove Albion but failed to make an impression. Then, in 2021, he joined Coventry City in the Championship after spending the previous season on loan with them.
During his first season, he scored 18 goals and assisted 5 times. The following year he scored 22 goals and assisted 12. This is when Sporting CP came knocking on the door.
Why Should Manchester City Sign Viktor Gyökeres?
One might feel that Manchester City doesn't need another striker as they have the amazing Erling Haaland. He is one of the best strikers in the world having scored 30 times in all competitions this season. Last year, he broke several records after topping a staggering 52 goals in his first season.
Then there is Julain Alvarez, yet another superb striker, but with somewhat different characteristics. So far this season, he managed to score 16 goals and assists 12 times in 45 games in all competitions. Pep Guardiola is even using Alvarez as a second striker in tandem with Haaland.
So when we look at these two fantastic strikers, we wonder why Manchester City would want to buy another one. In fact, why would Pep want another tall striker when he has Haaland?
To answer these questions we have to look at Haaland's and Alvarez's performances this season. Although, both players scored a lot of goals so far, most of them are against smaller clubs.
This means that the bigger clubs found a way to defend against Manchester City’s defence. Because of that, the team failed to win on several occasions against their English rivals. In fact, they managed to win only against Manchester United while drawing or losing against the other big clubs.
Stats such as this are worrying for a club that won a treble last year after dominating every other team. In most crucial matches this season, other non-strikers were scoring most of the goals. This is especially true for the second part of the season, where Haaland scored only 5 goals in 10 appearances.
This may be the reason why Pep Guardiola would want another top striker in the club. Having Gyökeres in the squad may increase the competitiveness among the strikers. He is also much better at assisting than Haaland.
If we look at Manchester City’s squad, we will notice that there are several players capable of playing in all positions. But, only Haaland and Alvarez can perform at a higher level in the attack. So another top striker in the team will possibly make all strikers better, which will also result in better team performances on the field.