Anytime a club brings in a new player, especially a highly-touted star on a big transfer fee, fans look for ways to support their recent capture.
Hoping to fill a void at the front of their attack, Arsenal fans will be eager to back their potential new star striker.
It seems that prolific Sporting CP goal scorer Viktor Gyokeres is close to joining on a big-money move to the Premier League side, and fans will want to know how to accurately discuss his arrival with friends and fellow supporters.
The Sporting News has all you need to know about how to pronounce the 27-year-old’s name, which has the potential to confound many English speakers.
MORE: Everything to know about Arsenal signing Viktor Gyokeres
How to pronounce Viktor Gyokeres’ name
Born in Stockholm, Sweden, Viktor Gyokeres has a last name many native English speakers find unconventional.
The last name of Arsenal’s new striker is pronounced “Yoh-KEH-res.” The phonetic, or IPA, writing is jø̂ːkɛrɛs.
The “G” at the beginning of his last name is silent, meaning the “Y” sound is the first pronounced. The emphasis is on the second syllable, which sounds like putting a “K” sound before the word “air.”
The last syllable is exactly as it’s spelled. This means it does not have the “sh” sound, which some have incorrectly become accustomed to doing. This is likely because Gyokeres is joining Arsenal from a Portuguese club, and many Portuguese names which end in “es” often have an “sh” sound. However, Gyokeres is not Portuguese, but Swedish, so this phenomenon does not apply.
Does Viktor Gyokeres have a nickname?
Upon joining Arsenal, Viktor Gyokeres did not have a widespread public nickname which fans used to refer to the Sweden international.
However, upon re-joining the club hierarchy in a predominantly English-speaking nation, that could potentially change.
When pronouncing Gyokeres’s last name phonetically correct, an obvious candidate stands out. While not a perfect match (mostly down to the emphasis being off), it sounds a lot like “JOKER-ish.”
Thus, it’s easy to see why he could be referred to by some connection to the Batman villain Joker. While NBA star Nikola Jokic already goes by “The Joker,” there would likely be little crossover in this case.
If Arsenal fans wish to go in another direction, they could stay in the Batman universe and draw from Gyokeres’s goal celebration, in which he covers his hand over his face. This is a reference to Bane, another villain from the DC comic universe.
