Arsenal’s £64m star needs to be replaced immediately after the Champions League final

Last Sunday, 22 years of injuries ended for Arsenal. They lifted the Premier League title at Selhurst Park in what was arguably the high point of Mikel Arteta’s reign as manager of the big club.

However, six days later, it was noted that maybe i It was the most painful period of his six-and-a-half years at the Emirates Stadium.

The Gunners are heading to Budapest, Hungary, for this season’s Champions League final, 20 years since they last appeared in the competition’s exhibition game. However, it was very painful for Arsenal, meeting their game in the form of PSG. Paris won on penalties after the match ended in a 1-1 draw following normal time and extra time.

It was a great effort from the boys in red and white but unfortunately for Arteta and his players, they couldn’t get over the line. So far they have never lost in this competition. They have not lost in Europe since they last met PSG in the semi-finals of the final.

So, how did it all play out?

How Arsenal lost in the Champions League final

Last year, PSG won the Champions League final 5-0 against Inter Milan. It was a heartbreaking performance for Luis Enrique’s men who lifted club football’s biggest trophy for the first time in their history.

A year later, it was a very different football game, it was to be. Arsenal are not allowing their opposition many scoring opportunities and that was the case in Budapest on Saturday night.

This wasn’t going to be an uphill battle but even so, few expected the Gunners to open the scoring. They shocked PSG just six minutes later when Kai Havertz found the net, marking his second Champions League goal after a 2021 raid against Chelsea.

He is a man of great occasion, so it seems, and this goal was a thing of beauty. He ran to the ball from the back, ran towards the goal and looked for a pass, and hit the ball towards the near post.

Truth be told, Arsenal didn’t create much more than that. PSG were the better team but the Londoners defended bravely, rarely allowing the French champions to score.

The Gunners never looked in trouble until they turned the tide just after the hour mark.

Cristhian Mosquera was excellent at right back in the absence of Ben White and Jurrien Timber in the first 60 minutes of the match. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia has been one of the best players in Europe this season but the Spanish defender has had no problems. However, that happened until he brought down Kvaratskhelia to get the sentence.

A clash of legs led the referee to point to the penalty area for Ousmane Dembele to stand up and send David Raya the wrong way.

From that point on, neither team looked like winning the game. 90 minutes came and went, as did extra time without finding a winner. The penalty lottery ended up deciding things.

Nuno Mendes saw his spot kick saved but Eberechi Eze and Gabriel Magalhes both fired over as PSG lifted the Champions League for a consecutive year.

These two criminals will no doubt be on the front pages this morning but they weren’t the only culprits in Hungary.

Arsenal need an upgrade for the £64m star

Before the team sheet was released it was as if you could easily name nine or ten starters. However, the biggest decision Arteta had to make was at the top of the squad.

It was that man Havertz named to start over Viktor Gyokeres and when he opened the scoring early on, it looked like an inspired decision.

The German was one of the best players on the field and did an excellent job leading the line. It was much better than Gyokeres.

In fact, it wasn’t much of a surprise to see him benched this time. In big games, such as Manchester City away, Havertz is favored by Arteta.

The display from the great Swede on arrival showed exactly why. Gyokeres is one of the most divisive figures in Arsenal’s history. He finished the season with 21 goals to his name; no one has come close to topping him as the club’s top goalscorer in 2025/26.

However, while no one can criticize his ability to find the net, you can criticize his overall play.

Towards the end of the season, it looked like the £64m signing had improved on this. His performance in the second leg of the semi-final against Atletico Madrid was first class. He ran channels all night and lifted the ball incredibly high.

These two areas have been the biggest weaknesses in the striker’s game and that was very clear on Saturday night. He failed to replicate anything close to that level of performance against Diego Simeone’s side.

Subbed off by captain Martin Odegaard shortly after the equaliser, Gyokeres did nothing but fizz an effort wide with a few minutes left of added time.

The Swede scored his penalty in the penalty shootout but other than that, very little went right. Although the ball often stuck to Havertz when it came to him, it did not stick to his teammates in attack.

Gyokeres had the ball touched 20 times but lost 10 times. He completed only six of 12 passes and won only four of 12 duels.

What Arsenal needed in the last half hour of normal time, and extra time, was someone who could hold the ball in the final third and reduce the relentless pressure that PSG applied. He failed to do that.

The reason why the Gunners lost was not because of Gyokeres but because he did not make life easy for his teammates. Several reports in recent weeks have suggested that the club is interested in Atletico’s Julian Alvarez and if a deal can be done there, it makes sense to throw more money towards the Spanish giants.

Last summer’s big-money signings helped Arsenal end their Premier League hoodoo but there is still room for improvement. His performance in the Hungarian capital this weekend was all the proof he needed.