Manchester United and Arsenal have been told one of their top targets in the upcoming summer transfer window is ‘from another world’, although Premier League rivals Nottingham Forest could sneak ahead of them both in the race to strike a deal.
Sporting forward Viktor Gyokeres is expected to be one of the most in-demand players this summer, as clubs queue up in a bid to land the 40-goal frontman who has a €100m (£83m) release clause but is expected to be allowed to leave for less.
Indeed, it’s thought that an offer of under £70m could do the trick for a player who previously played in the Championship for Coventry City before heading to Sporting.
Gyokeres‘ form in Portugal has been nothing short of sensational, having scored 83 goals in just 91 games, and has led to concrete interest from a number of top clubs.
Both United and Arsenal are in desperate need of a new No.9 for different reasons, while TT can reveal that Forest are also looking at the Sweden international alongside another prolific attacker in the shape of Victor Osimhen.
While Gyokeres’ stats speak for themselves, one of his teammates has still taken the opportunity to talk up his free-scoring Sporting colleague.
Speaking to FlashScore, Spanish defender Ivan Fresneda said: “He always needs to score goals, he gets frustrated if he doesn’t. He’s a machine in games, in training, in life. He’s a star from another world.
“He’s on another level. He’s a very complete player because he’s physically strong, he’s fast, he’s powerful, he’s got a shot, but that’s not all.
“The quality he has, his height, his physical strength. You try to find a player like that and in today’s football, I don’t see many like him, who are so physically strong and then have quality.”
Asked if he was surprised some of the biggest clubs in the world were weighing up moves for Gyokeres, Fresneda added: “Not at all, no.
“He’s always the same. What people see in the game is what we see in training. A lot of people have talked about him and nothing changes, he’s the same every day.”
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Romano explains change to Gyokeres exit clause
Meanwhile, trusted journalist Fabrizio Romano recently revealed the fee that any club, including Man Utd, would have to pay for Gyokeres – it is less than his release clause.
Romano noted on his YouTube channel: “For Viktor Gyokeres you should not follow the release clause anymore. The release clause is €100m, that’s the official contract, but there is a pact between the player, agents and Sporting directly with the president to let Viktor Gyokeres leave in the summer for a different transfer fee.
“So not €100m (£83.9m) which was the fee in January, but in the summer to respect the player who accepted to stay at Sporting for one more season (2024/25) and to stay in January despite Ruben Amorim leaving, the price will be different.
“It will be a package worth around €65m-€75m (£54.5m-£62.9m) based on payment terms, add-ons and all these sorts of things.”
Viktor Gyokeres Quiz