Viktor Gyokeres has reportedly made the ‘decision’ to cut ‘ties’ to Sporting Lisbon and Portugal amid interest from Arsenal and Manchester United.
Gyokeres has suddenly emerged as one of the best strikers in Europe over the past two years, scoring 97 goals in his 102 Sporting Lisbon appearances in all competitions.
The 27-year-old is second in our 2025 top scorers in Europe ranking after Sporting Lisbon only paid around £15m to sign him from Coventry City.
Sporting Lisbon stand to make a huge profit on Gyokeres this summer, though they are making a deal difficult for the striker and interested parties.
Gyokeres leaving this summer has been considered an inevitability for months, with a gentleman’s agreement enabling him to leave for around 60 million euros.
However, Sporting chiefs have decided to go back on their word and are instead demanding closer to 80 million euros, which is still less than his 100 million euro release clause.
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This has complicated negotiations and royally p*ssed off Gyokeres, but he is still likely to secure an exit amid interest from Arsenal and Man Utd.
Each club is in the market for a new striker this summer, with recent reports indicating that the Gunners, unsurprisingly, are ahead of Man Utd in the race to sign Gyokeres.
It has even been claimed that Arsenal have an ‘agreement’ over a five-year contract, but Fabrizio Romano has insisted that they are not close to striking a deal at this stage.
Romano revealed: “There’s no advanced negotiation. We know that Gyokeres and Arsenal have been in discussions for weeks. He’s one of the main targets for Arsenal this summer.
“There’s still this war going on between the agents of the player and Sporting to understand the final price of the player. And the price has to be clarified before Arsenal go to the negotiating table.”
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Arsenal will at least be aware that the striker is doing all he can to force through an exit, with a report from Portuguese outlet Correio de Manha claiming he has ‘decided’ to split with his girlfriend so he has no ‘ties’ to Portugal.
The publication cites details provided by TV Guia, who claimed: “Viktor doesn’t want anything that ties him to Portugal, especially because he has already decided that he will not continue at Sporting next season.
“Before going on holiday, he spoke to Inês [Aguiar], explained what he felt and she was also prepared in a certain way, although it was something that was difficult for her, because she liked him a lot.”
