David Tully Oct 11th 2025
Man United actually agreed “a higher transfer fee” than Arsenal for Viktor Gyokeres, according to the striker’s agent.
Speaking on the Studio Allsvenskan podcast, Jonathan Chalkias confirmed that the Swedish international held out for a move to the Gunners, despite Sporting Lisbon pushing him to sign for the Red Devils:
“They [Sporting] had concluded a deal with Manchester United behind our backs, that was a problem. United offered a higher transfer fee.”
Gyokeres eventually made the switch to the Emirates for an initial £55m back in July after several weeks of tense negotiations.
Have Man United dodged a bullet?
Gyokeres has had a less-than-stellar start to life at Arsenal. He has only scored 3 goals in total – one of which was a penalty.
The 27-year-old has not scored in his last 6 games, and he has not only been struggling at club level. He was also heavily criticised for his performance during Sweden’s 2-0 defeat to Switzerland in a World Cup qualifier on Friday night.
It’s probably too early to say that Gyokeres has been a flop, but nonetheless, some at Old Trafford may feel they have avoided a costly mistake.
Will Sesko prove to be a better signing?
After not scoring until his 7th game for his new club, there have also been questions about Benjamin Sesko‘s displays since he joined from RB Leipzig for a fee that could rise to £73.7m.
However, the Slovenian international has scored in back-to-back games after finally getting off the mark against Brentford.
Another factor that Sesko has in his favour is his age. At 22, the forward has the potential to develop into a better player. With Gyokeres, there is an argument to say that he has already reached his peak, and based on the early evidence, he isn’t going to set the Premier League alight.
Read more about the Manchester United First Team Squad for 2025/26 here
David Tully
David has worked as a football reporter for the last fifteen years. Having started as an intern at Snack Media, he then went on to become a freelancer, working on various different sites. At the start of 2023, he took up his current role as content writer for National World’s Football News Network.
