Premier League clubs have been told that Viktor Gyokeres, the Sporting Lisbon striker, could be available for as little as £63million next summer.
Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal have been linked with a move for Gyokeres, who underlined his reputation as one of Europe’s most prolific strikers by scoring a hat-trick in Sporting’s 4-1 win over Manchester City on Tuesday.
Gyokeres, 26, has a €100million (£83million) release clause in his contract with Sporting, which expires in 2028. But it is understood that the Sweden international has a gentleman’s agreement with Sporting to allow the player to leave next summer for a lower fee.
Sporting could accept a bid of between €75million-85million for Gyokeres, who arrived from Coventry City in the summer of 2023 for a club-record fee of about £20million. Arsenal looked at the player last season but decided against bidding for him, while Chelsea could be in the market for a striker next summer. A number of Saudi Arabian clubs are also monitoring Gyokeres’s situation with interest.
Amorim could move for Gyokeres at United in the summer
ZED JAMESON/PA
Gyokeres has a good relationship with the Sporting head coach Rúben Amorim, who takes charge of United next week. The 39-year-old Portuguese has ruled out the possibility of bidding for Gyokeres — or any other Sporting player — in January, but did not rule out the idea of making a move for him in the summer.
“I’ve just made peace with the Sporting fans, so I’m not even going to make a joke about it,” Amorim said after the win over City when asked about the possibility of taking Gyokeres with him to Old Trafford.
“Gyokeres is a Sporting player, which is a great club, he did a lot for the club, he was in the second division [of English football]. He just has to stay and finish the season at the club.”
Gyokeres has scored 66 goals in 67 appearances for Sporting since his move from Coventry. Before signing for the Sky Bet Championship side, he had a three-year spell with Brighton & Hove Albion. The forward was the Primeira Liga’s top scorer last season, with 29 goals.
On Amorim’s impending departure, Gyokeres said: “We will miss him a lot. We’ve done amazing things together. We will miss him and the other guys in the staff who will leave. We have to look forward and attack the next challenge ahead of us.”
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Amorim’s final match in charge of Sporting comes on Sunday when his team play away to Braga, his former team. Sporting are top of the table after winning all ten of their league games.
Amorim, meanwhile, intends to isolate himself from media reports regarding United for the first six months of his reign. The Portuguese, who has only had five years’ experience of managing, admits the pressure will be much higher at United, who sacked Erik ten Hag last week after they dropped to 14th in the Premier League table.
“I’m not going to read anything for six months,” Amorim, who has signed a 2½-year contract, said. “The only way to work well is to work and focus on the team.”
