Viktor Gyökeres wants to leave Sporting Lisbon this summer – but at what price? According to the latest statements from the club president, a clean break seems increasingly unlikely.
Viktor Gyökeres seems to be pretty sure he won’t play for Sporting Lisbon again. But so far, there’s no new club in sight for the striker, and things are slowly but surely starting to get tense.
Over the weekend, comments from Sporting’s president caused a stir, and not just in Portugal. Frederico Varandas openly juggled transfer fees, as is currently the case in Germany with VfB shooting star Nick Woltemade, and apparently angered the protagonist in the process. According to the Portuguese newspaper Record, Gyökeres has informed Varandas that he will never play for Sporting again. A strike at the start of training is also on the cards – not for the first time.
Varandas confirmed that Sporting is willing to let Gyökeres go for a sum below the alleged €100 million release clause. “But I can guarantee that Viktor will not leave for 60 plus ten million. Viktor already knows that, and I want the Sporting fans to know it too.”
The reasoning: “We have been watching the market closely in recent weeks. I saw a player like Zubimendi, who is six months younger than Viktor, go to Arsenal for 65 million. I’ve seen two players, Matheus Cunha and Mbeumo, who were being traded in the Premier League—strikers who, in my opinion, don’t have Viktor’s quality and were being traded for around 75 million.“
”I believe he can leave unless he has the worst agent in the world.”
So there are two scenarios: “Either a club respects Viktor’s market value and Viktor will fulfill his dream, or a club doesn’t want Viktor and Viktor, who still has three years left on his contract, stays at Sporting and we will be very happy,” emphasized Varandas, who nevertheless sees a “high probability” of a transfer. “I believe he can leave unless he has the worst agent in the world. That’s hard for me to believe because he’s one of the best footballers in the world.”
In the Premier League, Arsenal and Manchester United are said to be particularly interested in Gyökeres, who scored 54 goals in 52 competitive games last season, leading Sporting to the double. It remains to be seen whether both sides can agree on a clean break after two successful years—or whether it will actually turn ugly.
