Manchester United continue to be linked with reuniting Viktor Gyokeres and his former Sporting CP head coach, Ruben Amorim, ever since he left the Portuguese club
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Rio Ferdinand
Rio Ferdinand has questioned whether Viktor Gyokeres is good enough the play in the Premier League
(Image: Getty Images)
Rio Ferdinand believes Viktor Gyokeres would struggle physically in the Premier League amid links to Manchester United and a potential reunion with his former Sporting CP head coach Ruben Amorim.
Championship are another club credited with an interest in the Sweden international, who spent three-and-a-half years with Brighton and Hove Albion without playing a league match. However, he scored 41 goals in the Championship across two-and-a-half seasons for Coventry City, earning a move to the Portuguese capital.
The striker has become even more prolific since the switch, scoring 82 times in 90 games. That includes six across eight Champions League matches.
Ferdinand, though, does not see such form translating to the Premier League. "I don't think he's the guy, Gyokeres, for me," he said during the latest video on his YouTube channel featuring Joleon Lescott. "I've watched him probably three times closely, and three times I've gone, 'he ain't getting those opportunities in the Premier League'.
"When I see him physically matched, I don't see what else there is. That's the question I'm asking: is there enough after he's physically matched to get him a goal?"
Lescott concurred, claiming, "You don't get away with that in the Premier League" before recalling an example of another striker who excelled in Europe before failing to do so in England. "Timo Werner, when he first came to Chelsea, he was surprised."
Lescott recalled the striker acknowledging the difference after making his Chelsea debut against Brighton. "Like everybody said to me before, Premier League football is something different," Werner said back then.
"I played against three massive defenders, and you don't have something like that in Germany! The game is totally different."
Gyokeres notably also played in Germany previously. He scored seven goals in 28 appearances while playing primarily out wide during a season on loan at St Pauli in the 2.Bundesliga.