‘Plays like a child’ – Teddy Sheringham claims Arsenal star ‘doesn’t understand’ his position

Teddy Sheringham has criticised Arsenal’s Viktor Gyokeres, suggesting the striker ‘plays like a child’ and does not understand his role as a centre forward.

Gyokeres arrived at the Emirates last summer, joining Mikel Arteta’s side from Sporting CP after scoring 97 goals in 102 appearances for the Portuguese side.

The Swedish striker amassed a respectable 22 goals in all competitions over the course of his debut season in English football but failed to fully win over large swathes of the fanbase.

And Kai Havertz’s return to form and fitness has seen him firmly usurp Gyokeres as Arteta’s go-to centre forward at the start of the current campaign.

Gyokeres is yet to start a Premier League match this season, but Sheringham believes there is good reason for this as he claimed the 28-year-old still has plenty of areas in his game that need improvement.

‘It shocks me that he’s still playing like a kid,’ Sheringham told Hajper.

‘I don’t think he has understood what it means to be an attacking player and what he has to do.

‘There are different ways to play striker, but he needs to be told to hold onto the ball when it comes to him.

‘He does some things well, but constantly gives the ball away and when you are 28 years old, you should have learned this a long time ago.’

In the wake of such criticism, Gyokeres has delivered a timely reminder of his capabilities over the international break, scoring four goals in four games for Graham Potter’s Sweden.

Asked about what the Arsenal striker brings to his side, Potter recently said: ‘The way he leads, how he gets all the players involved, how he gives us a completely different dimension to our game.

‘That he’s scoring again, he’s in fantastic form.’

Gyokeres will hope his goalscoring form for Sweden could see him back in the starting lineup when Arsenal host Leeds United on Saturday.

But regardless, the striker has admitted that he is keen to play more regular minutes after his slow start to the club season.

‘I haven’t played a lot, but I’ve had a few games,’ he said.

It’s felt okay then, but it’s clear that I want to play football and as much as possible. Hopefully that will come, too. You always want to be on the field as a football player.

‘Of course you expect more playing time, but we have an extremely good squad with a lot of good players and have been doing well here at the start.

‘I’m just trying to focus on what I can control and do my best to play more.’

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