William Saliba backs 'scary' new Arsenal team-mate Viktor Gyokeres to fire Gunners to trophies

William Saliba issued a warning to Arsenal's Premier League rivals that facing Viktor Gyokeres will be scary, as the French defender backed the Gunners' new signing to finally end the north London club's five-year-long trophy drought. Saliba had faced his new team-mate in the Champions League last season, where the English club thrashed Sporting CP 5-1.

  • Saliba labelled Gyokeres as scary
  • Backed striker to help win trophies
  • Gyokeres is with Arsenal squad in their Asia tour

William Saliba backs 'scary' new Arsenal team-mate Viktor Gyokeres to fire Gunners to trophiesWilliam Saliba backs 'scary' new Arsenal team-mate Viktor Gyokeres to fire Gunners to trophiesWilliam Saliba backs 'scary' new Arsenal team-mate Viktor Gyokeres to fire Gunners to trophies

Gyokeres finally sealed a £64 million ($86m) transfer from Sporting last week and was immediately flown to Singapore, where the Gunners played a pre-season friendly against Newcastle on Sunday. While the striker did not play a part in the match, he attended the game from the stands in an Arsenal shirt.

Saliba is excited to play alongside a goal machine like Gyokeres, whom the Frenchman described as ‘scary’, while claiming that the Swedish forward will help Arsenal to finally end their trophy drought and win titles in the 2025-26 campaign.

Speaking to reporters, Saliba said: “We know how good he is, it’s scary to play against him. Of course, I’m so happy to have him in my club, and I’m sure that he will help us to win games and win trophies. [He is scary] because when you face a striker who scores goals, you have to be focused! But now he’s in our team and he will score for us, so that’s good. Every year is different. We have to learn from the last three seasons. Of course, we are lucky to have a chance to compete in the again to try to win. Our mindset is to win the Premier League, and we will give everything from the first game. We have a lot of new players and they will hopefully help us to win this league.”

Gyokeres will accompany the rest squad to their next destination in Hong Kong as the Premier League giants jet off on Tuesday. Mikel Arteta will assess the striker’s fitness before taking a call on whether to field him against arch-rivals on Thursday.