ECONOMISTS call it a “sunk cost fallacy.”
It describes a project you have committed so much to that you can’t bring yourself to abandon it.
But sometimes, reluctantly or otherwise, the really smart move is to see that enough is enough.
For Arsenal, that moment has arrived with Viktor Gyokeres.
Forget the initial spend of £54.8million the Gunners made to bring him from Sporting in July.
It’s not working and it’s never going to work. Mikel Arteta must know it, too.
The truly best managers are the ones who recognise a mistake and make the hard decision quickly, rather than continue with something they know will end in failure.
Despite their six-point lead at the top of the Prem, the Emirates fans are still beyond nervy.
Part of that is they see a centre-forward who can’t buy a goal, and never more so than in Thursday’s dour 0-0 stalemate against Liverpool.
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In his 64 minutes on the pitch, Gyokeres — the central striker of the team clear at the top of the Premier League — managed just eight touches.
It is the latest evidence the Swede has been elevated beyond his true level.
Gyokeres arrived on the back of 39 league goals for Sporting last season — 48 for the club in total — and, at 27 and with previous spells in England with Brighton and Coventry, approaching his peak years.
Yet just two of his 39 goals were against Portugal’s other top-five clubs.
He was, to a degree, a flat-track bully.
In his 19 Premier League appearances Gyokeres has five goals with just three of them from open play.
He has managed a mere 31 shots, 11 on target.
His movement shows a lack of penetrative running and his team-mates seem reluctant to pass to him.
Perhaps Arteta sees a lack of alternatives within his squad, mainly due to the injuries that have deprived him of Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus for so long.
Jesus and Mikel Merino, ostensibly a midfielder but press-ganged into striker service last term, are both one-goal-in-four men at best. Havertz, a goal every three matches.
Yet that is why making a decisive move over the next three weeks could bolster the ‘12th man’ as well.
All the braying bravado of the Emirates hardcore, the belligerent caw-cawing of “set-piece again” when the latest dead-ball delivery is nudged over the line by Gabriel Magalhaes or a panicky opposition defender, is little more than a front.
Arsenal fans are a version of the Wizard of Oz.
The volume of the boastfulness and vanity designed to hide their true insecurities.
Peek behind the curtain, as everyone did in that second half against Arne Slot’s injury-strapped Kop side and the truth emerges.
That those Gooners are so scarred by previous failings, the title races that were in their hands and thrown away, they are almost conjuring up a repeat in their own minds.
Gyokeres’ limitations are clear to all of them.
They see what is obvious — that the jump from the Primeira Liga to the world’s toughest competition is a bar he is unable to clear.
Yet some of those doubts could be banished by January transfer window boldness.
They know that, when the fight for the crown gets to its most intense stage — the April 19 visit to the Etihad already circled in red ink — Erling Haaland will likely deliver for Manchester City.
If you have a centre-forward you’d back to score, it also creates space for those around him.
Opponents know they must find a way to block the most obvious threat.
Yet with Gyokeres in this Arsenal team — part of a squad that otherwise appears to have no weak points — there is little reason to be fearful of the spearhead.
Of course, it is easier to chant “Buy a f***ing striker!” — as those Arsenal fans did, regularly — than to actually do the deal.
Gyokeres was supposed to be the answer, although there remain suspicions Arteta felt Benjamin Sesko, belatedly finding his feet at Old Trafford, was the better fit.
Despite everything, there is only one team that can stop Arsenal winning their first title in 22 years. Unfortunately, that is Arsenal.
Make the brave call now, Mikel.
Cash in the Gyokeres chips and buy an upgrade and you can banish those doubts and fulfil this team’s destiny.
Three things we learned about Arsenal: Lack of creativity, but Arteta’s to blame
ARSENAL never looked like scoring in their cagey 1-0 defeat to Liverpool.
Here is SunSport Arsenal correspondent Charlie Wyett’s verdict…
ARTETA HAS TO TAKE MUCH OF THE BLAME
If Mikel Arteta is to lead Arsenal to the title, he has to be braver when his team is in a strong position.
The coach left it too late to make his changes, bringing on Eberechi Eze and Odegaard in the 70th minute when Liverpool were taking a grip.
Six points out of nine is not bad but Arsenal have difficult games coming up against Newcastle and Manchester City.
Gunners were unbeaten in their previous 22 matches against the Big Six. That impressive run stretched back to a defeat at Manchester City in April 2023. Importantly, none of their victories came away at arch rivals Liverpool and City.
The last time Arsenal won at Anfield was in 2012 at the start of the Brendan Rodgers era — with Arteta playing that day.
MERINO LOVES AN ANFIELD SCRAP — BUT THERE’S NOT ENOUGH CREATIVITY IN MIDFIELD
Spanish midfielder Mikel Merino was a surprise starter, with Gabriel Martinelli the other change from the 5-0 win over Leeds.
Last term Merino scored in both the home and away matches, while he also got a second yellow card at Anfield.
He did his best to unsettle the home defence, particularly at corners, even though teammate Declan Rice failed to cause any problems from the set-pieces.
Players have been warned there will be a clampdown on wrestling between players. But Kop midfielder Alexis Mac Allister was involved in a skirmish with Merino, although a VAR check offered nothing.
Merino should then have been given a booking for throwing himself to the ground theatrically to try to get a pen following another wayward Rice corner.
And despite annoying Liverpool at set-pieces, Merino was unable to unlock the home defence with Noni Madueke Arsenal’s most effective forward by some distance.
Marquee signing Viktor Gyokeres, like in the first game at Manchester United, was once again feeding off scraps.
GUNNERS’ INJURY NIGHTMARE — WILL IT EVER END?
New season, same old story for Arsenal’s medical staff, who certainly earn their dosh. You have to wonder what boss Mikel Arteta does to his side in training.
Arsenal went into this game with Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka, Ben White and Christian Norgaard all sidelined, while Gabriel Jesus is a long-term absentee.
Captain Martin Odegaard was only fit enough for the bench.
There were under four minutes on the clock when William Saliba fell to the ground after a challenge with Liverpool forward Hugo Ekitike.
Cristhian Mosquera — a £13million arrival from Valencia — was quickly stripped and ready.
At Leeds the previous week, he made his Premier League debut because Jurrien Timber is having his minutes managed as he returns from injury.
And he delivered a solid, encouraging performance.
