Manchester United won’t be signing Viktor Gyokeres this summer as the Sporting striker “wants to win trophies” with his next club.
Gyokeres has scored an incredible 83 goals in 91 appearances for Sporting since moving to the Portuguese giants from Coventry for just £20m in the summer of 2023.
His stunning form has made him a target for a number of top European clubs and he’s been heavily linked with a move to Old Trafford to reunite with Ruben Amorim, who moved to United from Sporting in November.
But recent reports have claimed the 27-year-old will seek a move to a club in the Champions League next season, ruling United out unless they win the Europa League this term.
And transfer expert Duncan Castles has told Football Transfers that Gyokeres will not move to United as he “wants to win trophies”.
“He wants to go to a club where he can prove himself, where he can win trophies, and his assessment of where Manchester United are at the moment is that is not the option to take in a summer where he’ll be turning 27,” Castles said on The Transfers Podcast.
“He’s going to look at the clubs that are making him offers and pick the one that he thinks is the best place to demonstrate his time in England in the lower division and at Brighton weren’t an accurate representation of his abilities as a player, and that what he’s done in Portugal can be replicated in the English League or elsewhere in Europe.”
“He will be available this summer,” Castles added.
“Sporting have a gentleman’s agreement that he can leave for around €80m. What I’m hearing is that his agents will try and push that fee down to €60-70m.”
United are also interested in Sporting’s Francisco Trincao but have been dealt a blow in their bid to sign the former Wolves star thanks to Gyokeres’ imminent exit.
Sporting are ‘determined not to let Trincao go’ as they are ‘braced for the departure of Viktor Gyokeres’ and are looking to ward off suitors by demanding a fee ‘in excess of his £50m release clause’.
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It’s claimed the Portuguese side ‘want to recoup at least £35m’ for the player they signed from Barcelona for just £6m, meaning United will need to spend £70m to get him to Old Trafford as the Catalan giants inserted a 50 per cent sell-on clause in his contract.
The report confirms that ‘Amorim is convinced Trincao, with the benefit of that season at Molineux in 2021-22, will be able to make a swift adaptation to the Prem’.
