Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said on Wednesday that the rapturous reception for his team at the Hong Kong Football Festival had given their new striker Viktor Gyokeres a “very good first impression” of the club.
The Swede joined for an estimated US$74.2 million (HK$582 million) from Sporting Lisbon this week, as Arteta continued a spending spree aimed at upgrading on three successive English Premier League runners-up finishes.
The 27-year-old Gyokeres, who scored 54 goals last season, trained with his new teammates in front of 18,563 people at a boisterous Kai Tak Stadium on Wednesday night. Arteta was planning to discuss with medical staff whether Gyokeres would make his debut in the sold-out Kai Tak match against Tottenham Hotspur on Thursday.
“When the news broke [of Gyokeres signing], he realised the magnitude of this club he was going to be representing, how fast everything goes viral,” Arteta said. “His immediate reaction was, ‘Wow.’
“Then he saw the reception at the hotel yesterday, the training session with [nearly] 20,000 in the stadium, then the match sold out with 50,000 people. It gave him a very good first impression, for sure.”
Gyokeres has taken the No 14 jersey previously worn by Thierry Henry, who scored a record 228 goals for the club.
