Partly anonymous on the ball island, then came the transfer to Sporting in 2023. 102 games later, Viktor Gyökeres has delivered 97 goals and 28 assists for the Portuguese champions. In the last two weeks, the relationship has soured – for real. For Manchester United, this means that Ruben Amorim’s favourite striker is unlikely to find his way to Old Trafford.
The super Swede is ready to sign with one of the big clubs in the Premier League, but Sporting have put themselves completely on the back foot. When it comes to increasing sales revenues by 10-20 extra million euros, what the Swede has delivered on the match arena is quickly forgotten. Now Sporting is threatening to go back to the demand for bids that meet the buyout clause.
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The price tag of €60 million plus €10 million in bonuses has been claimed to be a gentlemen’s aggression for Gyökeres to leave Sporting this summer. Sporting president Frederico Varandas denied earlier this week that such a deal existed.
“I can guarantee that Viktor Gyökeres will not leave the club for 60 + 10 million euros, because I never promised that. The game the agent is playing only makes things worse,” Varandas stated.
There is another twist in this story. According to A Bola, Gyökeres’ agent Hasan Cetinkaya has included a clause in Gyökeres’ contract. The clause means that Sporting is obliged to pay the agent 10 percent of any bid for Gyökeres that exceeds 60+10 million euros if the bid is rejected by Sporting.
According to A Bola, the clause was a condition from the agent when Gyökeres came to the club. At the same time, the newspaper states that Sporting threatens consequences if Cetinkaya chooses to activate the clause.
The club is threatening to demand Gyökeres’ entire buyout clause of 100 million euros in order to agree to sell the Swede this summer, reports the Portuguese media.
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This is anything but Manchester United’s way, who have already spent a solid chunk of their transfer budget this summer to sign Mateus Cunha for £62.5 million.
