Gabriel Magalhaes deals Arsenal potential transfer blow as Viktor Gyokeres hits back at celebration

Arsenal's attempts to sign Viktor Gyokeres could be affected by the aftermath of their 5-1 Champions League win over Sporting in Lisbon.

Gabriel Magalhaes copied the striker's goal celebration after scoring the Gunners' third goal against the Portuguese champions. Bukayo Saka also appeared to make the same gesture - interlocking his hands and covering his eyes - while running over to join his teammates surrounding the defender.

Gyokeres does the same after scoring but covers his mouth to make a make, which he has hinted is inspired by the Batman supervillain Bane. While neither Gabriel nor Saka got it right, the striker was informed about it afterwards.

"He's welcome to steal it if he can't create his own celebration!" Gyokeres told Viaplay during a post-match interview, referring to Gabriel doing it. "I didn't know he did that, but it's fun that he likes my celebration."

Despite giving Gabriel the green light to steal the celebration and suggesting it was a bit of fun that the defender liked it enough to do so, the Sweden international claiming that the Arsenal man could not come up with one himself hints that Gyokeres is not necessarily completely happy with what happened.

For one, his compatriot and former Gunners player Freddie Ljungberg disapproved, calling it "a bit disrespectful" while working as a pundit on the game for Viaplay. He said that Gabriel should have left it alone, as the celebration is synonymous with Gyokeres, and acknowledged that he disliked seeing it happen.

If the player himself also deems it an act of disrespect, that could inadvertently harm any attempts Arsenal make next year to sign the striker, who seems set to leave Sporting. football.london understands the club were interested in Gyokeres ahead of the summer transfer window after closely following the player's progress in Portugal during his debut season in Lisbon.