Viktor Gyokeres' celebration explained: Arsenal striker reveals true meaning

Arsenal striker Viktor Gyokeres has claimed his iconic goal celebration came about after he was told by friends to mark his strikes with a signature move. The Sweden international will be aiming to light up the Premier League with his celebration plenty of times over the coming campaign after joining the Gunners from Sporting earlier this summer.

Arsenal shelled out an initial £55million to land Gyokeres from Sporting in July after the striker had bagged 97 goals in 102 games during two years in Portugal. The Gunners had been linked with Benjamin Sesko in the lead up to their pursuit of Gyokeres but ultimately decided to turn their attention to the former Coventry man. And he is in line to make his competitive debut for Arsenal when his new club travel to Manchester United for their Premier League opener on Sunday.

During his time in Portugal, Gyokeres started celebrating goals by interlocking his fingers and placing both hands over his face to create a mask.

And after putting pen-to-paper on a five-year contract at the Emirates Stadium, the 27-year-old explained: "Before I got it, my friends were always saying to me to find my own celebration because they were very tired of me doing all kinds of stuff when I was celebrating.

"I had some time off. We went on vacation together. During that time, we came up with it after a while. We thought it looked good and I started doing it straightaway. It felt even better on the pitch."

Gyokeres took to Instagram just over a year ago to post footage of himself and fans in stadiums using his celebration.

And he captioned the video with almost an identical phrase used by the character Bane in Batman movie The Dark Knight Rises as he wrote: "Nobody cared until I put on the mask."

The prolific goalscorer has since posted images of himself using the same celebration while playing for Arsenal.

"I always want to score," Gyokeres said after arriving in north London. "To be a part of this club and to score in this kit and with this badge in front of all the supporters, I can't wait. It will be an amazing feeling.

"I just felt that it was the right club for me. What I heard from Mikel [Arteta] and Andrea [Berta] when I was speaking with them, and just what I've seen in the past years, how they've been playing football.

"When I was playing against Arsenal last season, I could really feel it was a very strong team and very difficult to play against."