Coventry City will reportedly not earn a single penny if Sporting CP sell Viktor Gyokeres this summer, despite previously agreeing a sell-on clause in his contract.
The 27-year-old has attracted attention from some of Europe’s biggest clubs since establishing himself as one of the most prolific strikers on the continent over the past two seasons. Gyokeres scored a whopping 54 goals in 52 games this season as Sporting secured a domestic double.
Champions League sides such as Arsenal, Chelsea and Juventus, as well as Manchester United, who are managed by his former Sporting boss Ruben Amorim, have expressed their interest in signing the Swede this summer.
It was initially reported that, despite having a £84.7million release clause in his contract, a £59m offer was enough for the Portuguese champions to part ways with the forward.
But that has since been dismissed by Sporting’s club president, Frederico Varandas, who this week said there was no gentleman’s agreement in place to let Gyokeres leave for £59m. Varandas insisted that the only promise made to Gyokeres was that the club wouldn’t demand his full release clause.
Regardless of the fee Gyokeres ends up leaving Sporting for, Coventry may not stand to benefit from his departure. The Sweden international spent two seasons with the Championship side following an initial loan deal from Brighton, netting 40 goals in 97 games, before joining Sporting for an initial £20m.
TalkSPORT has now reported that the Sky Blues sold their clause to Sporting last summer, waiving their right to a future transfer windfall in order to fund their own £18m transfer overhaul. The sell-on clause was said to be worth 10 per cent of any profit on the initial fee Sporting paid to originally sign the player.
However, the Coventry Telegraph's information last summer that the fee was actually reduced by just five percent after Sporting paid the Championship club €1m (£843,500), in addition to the player hitting “certain objectives” over the course of the season.
The Sky Blues were initially set to receive 15% of any profit on the initial fee the Portuguese side paid for the striker last summer, should he be sold. That was subject to change if Gyokeres managed a number of achievements, understood to include a set number of goals, appearances and club honours which were add-ons to the initial fee, and amount to €2m (almost £1.7m).
That means City have earned just over an additional £2.5m in add-ons from the initial fee of €20m (£17.5m), taking the total amount received to £20m so far.
Viktor Gyokeres celebrates scoring for Coventry City
Viktor Gyokeres rose to prominence at Coventry City in the Championship (Image: Matthew Lewis/Getty Images.)
Sporting's Varandas went on to say that he had not yet received an official offer for Gyokeres since the end of the 2024/25 season, despite all of the interest in their player.
CNN Portugal supported that claim while saying Arsenal is Gyokeres’ preferred destination, over United, this summer. The report said: “Arsenal are the club that Gyokeres has wanted from the very beginning.
“Gyokeres wants to play for Arsenal, he has stated this desire very openly to his agent. Officially, there has not been an offer yet, but there have been many contacts. This time, it seems that there will be [an offer].”
Portuguese newspaper Record reported that Arsenal’s hierarchy met with Gyokeres’ representative, Hasan Cetinkaya, on Wednesday and an official offer from the Gunners is now expected.
However, reports elsewhere have stated Arsenal’s preference is to sign Benjamin Sesko this summer from RB Leipzig.