Viktor Gyökeres - How does he compare physically to Premier League strikers?

Viktor Gyökeres has taken a less traditional route to the Premier League spotlight. He began his professional journey with Swedish outfit IF Brommapojkarna before earning a move to England with Brighton & Hove Albion in 2018. Although he didn’t break into Brighton’s first team, his development continued through loan spells in Germany with FC St. Pauli and in the Championship with Swansea City and Coventry City. In 2023, Gyökeres took a major step in his career, signing for Portuguese giants Sporting CP in a club-record deal worth an initial €20 million. There, he reached new heights—winning back-to-back Primeira Liga titles in 2024 and 2025, finishing as the league’s top scorer in both seasons, and claiming the prestigious Bola de Prata and LPFP Player of the Year award in 2024.

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Now playing for Arsenal after securing a £55 million move, potentially rising to £63.5 million with add-ons, the main question will be wether Gyökeres' game can translate from outside of Europe's top 5 Leagues into the Premier League, arguably the most physically demanding league in the world. We take a look at Gyökeres' physical metrics from the 2024/25 Primeira Liga season and compare them to CF's in the 2024/25 Premier League season, using our physical metrics platform, Epitome, which has reached best-in-class player recognition rates by adding manually collected ball possession information to our computer vision model (read more here).

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One caveat to mention here is that different leagues require different physical outputs, so a low score in a specific phsycial metric may not be because a player is limited in that facet, but because they are not required to. With that being said, let's get into the data and compare Viktor Gyökeres to the Premier League benchmark among CF's:

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Max Speed (MAXSPEED)

‍Gyökeres ranks 2nd out of 36 CFs for max speed, clocking in at 35.26 km/h. This is well above the group average of 33.14 km/h, indicating he possesses the raw pace needed to cope with the Premier League’s high-intensity transitions. Max Speed is calculated using an average of a player's 5 fastest games, allowing for a true reflection of game speed.

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Sprints per 90 (SPRCP90)

‍Gyökeres performs 24.35 sprints per 90, placing him 11th overall and above the average of 22.06. This indicates a strong work rate in high-intensity efforts and shows he is capable of contributing to a pressing system or frequent attacking runs.

* Number of times speed reached ≥25 km/h

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High-Speed Runs per 90 (HSRCP90)

‍Gyökeres ranks 32nd with 61.25 high-speed runs per 90, significantly below the average of 69.36. This may reflect a more central or targeted role in Sporting’s system, but it raises questions about his off-ball mobility. This likely indicates the difference in intensity between leagues and an area where Gyökeres will have to adapt under Mikel Arteta.

* Number of times speed reached 20–25 km/h

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Accelerations per 90 (ACCELP90)

‍Gyökeres excels in short, explosive movements with 50.82 accelerations per 90—ranking 2nd in the dataset and outperforming the average of 45.21. You can see this in his direct playing style which is often receiving passes breaking the defensive line. This may change at Arsenal who will face a number of low blocks, much like Erling Haaland for Manchester City who ranks 1st in Max Speed, but last in Accelerations per 90.

*Number of times acceleration reached > 3 m/s²

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Total Distance per 90 (TOTP90)

‍With 9.07 km covered per 90 minutes, Gyökeres ranks 25th among his peers. This figure falls slightly below the group average of 9.36 km, suggesting he is not among the most industrious CFs in terms of total movement during matches, but again this is likely the difference in intensity between England and Portugal's top flight leagues.

*Total distance covered (km)

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Walking Distance per 90 (WALKP90)

‍He ranks 3rd for walking distance at 3.30 km per 90, above the average of 3.12 km. This could suggest good pacing of effort and recovery within matches, a common trait in efficient, high-output strikers, but this is not how Mikel Arteta operates both on and off the ball, with Mikel Merino and Kai Havertz ranking in the bottom 5 among all CF's for total walking distance per 90.

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Overall, Gyökeres compares favorably in key explosive and top-speed metrics, though his off-ball volume (total distance and high-speed runs) is slightly below average. His physical profile supports a Premier League transition, especially in teams that value explosive actions over total ground covered, but there will be some questions wether he can replicate the hard yards of Kai Havertz and Mikel Merino in Mikel Arteta's system.

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All physical metrics were curated from our physical metrics platform, Epitome. For more information, please contact: sales@gradientsports.com

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