According to reports, Arsenal have suffered a fresh ‘setback’ in their pursuit of Sporting Lisbon standout Viktor Gyokeres.
The 27-year-old has emerged as Arsenal‘s top striker target after they targeted Benjamin Sesko and Ollie Watkins during 2024/25.
The arrival of new sporting director Andrea Berta to replace Edu has seemingly forced a change as the Gunners have turned their attention to Gyokeres.
The former Coventry City star is coming off a remarkable couple of years at Sporting Lisbon, scoring 97 goals in 102 appearances in all competitions.
Gyokeres is second in our ranking of this year’s top scorers in Europe, and he is eyeing a move to the Premier League, with Arsenal being his preferred next destination.
However, Arsenal’s chase for Gyokeres has been far from simple, as Sporting Lisbon are demanding a higher fee after club chiefs decided to go back on their reported gentleman’s agreement with the striker.
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Gyokeres has at least been doing what he can to force a move, as he ‘sacrificed’ millions to improve Arsenal’s bid after the club and player reportedly reached an agreement on a contract.
The Gunners still need to come to terms with Sporting Lisbon over a fee and deal structure, but this is proving difficult.
A report from The Independent claims Arsenal have been dealt a ‘setback’ as ‘negotiations have stalled over a difference in overall value and terms’.
Arsenal’s current offer is an initial fee of €65m, with add-ons taking the overall value of the deal to €80m. But ‘Sporting’s hard line is that they want €70m guaranteed with no add-ons’.
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Despite this, one ‘significant difference’ is said to boost Arsenal’s hopes of eventually landing Gyokeres this summer.
The report adds:
‘The situation mirrors Arsenal’s earlier pursuit of Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko in how neither club are budging. Those talks have temporarily paused over a difference of €10m.
‘There is a significant difference with the pursuit of Sesko, however. The desire of the Gyokeres camp to leave has created tension and made it much more difficult for Sporting to keep him.’
Gyokeres would be a great signing as Arsenal are crying out for a new striker, but The Athletic’s David Ornstein has revealed that his goal “volume” is likely to “come down in the Premier League”.
“People I speak to in Portugal and around the game who know far more about this sort of stuff than me, and don’t have skin in the game or a dog in the fight, who have studied this player closely, a couple of things they say immediately is that his volume may come down in the Premier League,” Ornstein said.
“But if you’re contributing 15/20 down from 50+, that could be absolutely critical to Arsenal, especially as they appear to have pretty much everything else in place in terms of chance creation.”