Viktor Gyokeres Sporting CP
Sporting CP
As many as five Premier League clubs have shown an interest in Viktor Gyokeres and most pundits have been confident that the striker will return to England at the end of this season.
However, in what seems to be a major blow, El Nacional are claiming that the Sporting striker has green-lit a move to Atletico Madrid after holding positive talks with the LaLiga side. Atleti have already approached the player’s representatives and Viktor Gyokeres is said to be keen on working with Diego Simeone.
Antoine Griezmann is expected to leave the club in the summer and with a reduced €85 million price tag, the Swede is now a favourite to replace him up top.
Will the Premier League sides miss out on Viktor Gyokeres or do they still stand a chance?
Nottingham Forest, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and most importantly Manchester United have all been linked with the 26-year-old and while this news will be a rude awakening for these sides, there’s still a long way to go before Atletico Madrid seal the deal.
For starters, Gyokeres has made it clear that he does not want to join Nottingham Forest but the other four PL teams still have a very good chance at landing him.
Purely based on this season’s success, Liverpool will be the favourites but if Arsenal can go all the way in the UCL, they too will have a great chance at landing him. The Gunners won’t be too worried with this bit of news because their current priority is Alexander Isak plus they are also looking at others like Osimhen and Benjamin Sesko.
Manchester United, obviously, are the most desperate to sign Viktor Gyokeres and thanks to Ruben Amorim’s close ties with the striker, the Red Devils will be very confident of beating the competition. However, if the club cannot get rid of Rasmus Hojlund in time, there’s no way the Sporting man will even consider a move to Old Trafford.
Chelsea, like all the other English teams have a long list of probables and even a couple of months ago, Viktor Gyokeres wasn’t anyone’s priority. However, Sporting CP’s recent decision to accept €85 million instead of the striker’s €100 million release clause has suddenly made this deal a whole lot more tempting.
Viktor Gyokeres has held positive talks with Atletico Madrid only because they are probably the first club to approach him but one thing’s for sure, the centre-forward will explore all his options before making a move during the summer window.