There appears to be no way back for Viktor Gyokeres and Sporting CP with Arsenal transfer links ramping up. The expectation was and has been for some time that he would be departing Portugal this summer for a fee, at least from his perspective, in the region of £60million (€70m).
Despite the fact the Swede has a £84million (€100m) release clause in his contract, the general understanding was that a gentleman's agreement was in place that would allow him to seal a departure for a lower amount.
However, when presented with that idea, Sporting president Frederico Varandas fired back emphatically. "One thing is that you should already know me better. Threats, blackmail and insults don't work with me," he boldly stated at a public event earlier this week.
"I can guarantee that Viktor Gyokeres will not leave for €60+€10m (£50+£8.5m) in add-ons because I never promised him that."
"To this day, Sporting has not had an offer for Viktor Gyokeres, neither today nor last season. It was agreed that Sporting would not demand the release clause at the end of the season, especially because he was going to be 27.
"We knew about Viktor's dream of going to a club where he could fight for the Champions League and we have common sense. We guaranteed that we would not demand €100m. Sporting has common sense, it keeps its word."
Gyokeres and his representatives appear adamant that a package worth £59.5million (€70m) would be enough for him to be sold. The 27-year-old has since made his anger clear with one subtle changed followed up by a clear statement on Instagram.
After removing Sporting from his Instagram bio, he posted a story which said: "There is a lot of talks at the moment, most of it is false. I will speak when the time is right."
Behind the scenes, Gyokeres is said to be furious with Portuguese outlet Record revealing how bad the situation is. Their report from earlier this week stated that due to what Gyokeres believes are broken promises, he does not want to play for the club again and has no plans to report for pre-season with it added he may even go on strike.
Alongside this, talks with Arsenal appear to be going extremely well, at least judging by updates in Portugal. The same news site claiming Gyokeres could go on strike have gone as far as stating that the Gunners have submitted an offer worth £55million (€65m) with £8.4million (€10m) of that being add-ons.
As that is quite clearly below their asking price, the proposal was not accepted, but it looks as though another one is being prepared. This time, Mais Futebol are claiming that the Gunners will offer £59.7million (€70m), inclusive off add-ons.
There has definitely been talks for Gyokeres with Arsenal, but any actual formal offers being put in writing appear wide of the mark. That is because RB Leipzig's Benjamin Sesko looks to be the preferred striker signings, as thing stand, with talks ongoing.
If the increase in price for Gyokeres is the case, he and the Slovenia international will cost the same. It would then seem a bit of a no-brainer to purchase the latter given his experience in a more difficult league, the fact he is five years younger and therefore has more potential.
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