Micah Richards tells Arteta to sell Arsenal flop in January as summer sale a ‘big miss’
Micah Richards has urged Mikel Arteta to move Viktor Gyokeres on in January and claims a player they sold in the summer has been a “big miss” this season.
Gyokeres scored 22 goals in all competitions in debut season at the Emirates following his £55m move from Sporting in the summer of 2025 but has found game time hard to come by in his second campaign.
Kai Havertz has been Arteta’s preferred option to lead the line, with Gyokeres limited mainly to brief cameos off the bench.
And even though the Sweden international broke his goalscoring duck in the Carabao Cup defeat to Fleetwood Town on Tuesday, Richards believes he’s on borrowed time at the club.
“I think one of the major talking points as well is Gyokeres,” Richards said on The Rest Is Football podcast.
“When he first arrived at Arsenal, I was saying to the Arsenal fans, ‘Don’t expect him to be scoring 25 and 30 goals’.
“What I really liked about him, he was good at running in behind, but he stopped doing the things that he’s really good at.
“He sort of looks like he has no confidence. I don’t know if the reports in the summer that they tried to get rid of him [were true] or not, but essentially he’s had enough game time to show what he can do now at Arsenal and it’s just not happening for him.
I think in January, because of the injuries, I definitely think they should go back into the market, and find top cover around.
“Because the way Arsenal play, and everyone talks about they need this player, they need that player, but the reason why they’re so good is what the front players do off the ball… so, Saka and Madueke work hard in a system that works for Arsenal.
“Obviously, losing Trossard was a big miss for them in terms of what he does off the ball and how clinical he was with the opportunities given to him.
“But I think if they want to compete and then, say, dominate, then 100 per cent, I think they need more firepower in that forward area, for sure.
“There are so many times where Gyokeres gets in really good positions, and I don’t know if he doesn’t back himself, I don’t know if it’s confidence, I don’t know if the team doesn’t back him to score, but he just, he doesn’t put the ball away. So, then it becomes a problem.
“And I just feel like he needs one of those opportunities where he plays 90 minutes, he scores, he builds confidence, and it goes from there.
“Otherwise, you know, they’re going to have to look to move him on.”
And Gary Lineker echoed Richards’s sentiments, with the former England striker saying: “I don’t see him as a starting nine, particularly for a club of the stature of Arsenal.
“I think he can come off the bench and do a bit. I think he’s probably more of a squad player.”
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