Viktor Gyokeres Denies Rift Over Arsenal Playing Time

Viktor Gyokeres has moved to shut down the transfer talk that dogged him through the summer, insisting he was never close to leaving Arsenal despite reports linking him to a swap deal involving Julián Álvarez.

The Swede's contentment at Arsenal comes with a caveat. He has yet to start a Premier League match this season and has been an unused substitute in three of the five games so far, leaving him with just 29 of a possible 450 league minutes and 207 across all competitions. He has scored 21 times in his debut campaign at the club, 14 of those in the league, but none yet this term.

He did score on international duty. Gyokeres scored the winner in the 43rd minute as Sweden beat Romania 2-1 on Friday, finishing the match as Player of the Match with a rating of 7.9 from 76 minutes on the pitch. He still looked far from satisfied doing his celebration, and Swedish media judged the display 'edgy' at times, criticising a missed chance after the break.

Kai Havertz has been ruled out of Germany's Nations League double-header against Greece and the Serbia meeting on 1 October with what the DFB has called a muscle strain, an injury picked up roughly 24 hours before Gyokeres struck for Sweden. That leaves a gap up front for Mikel Arteta to consider before Arsenal host Leeds on 10 October.

With Alexander Isak back at Liverpool for assessment on a minor issue, Gyokeres is set for a heavier workload through the rest of Sweden's international window, starting with the visit of Poland, in a squad that also includes Tottenham's Lucas Bergvall.

If the sharpness shown against Romania carries back to north London, Havertz's absence may hand Gyokeres the kind of run of minutes he has been denied since August, with the Leeds fixture the obvious first test.