Arsenal take note of Viktor Gyokeres after Sporting make transfer feelings clear

Arsenal will be keeping a close eye on Viktor Gyokeres’ prolific start to the campaign as he continues to be linked with a move to the Premier League. Gyokeres has established himself as one of Europe’s most feared marksmen since joining Sporting from Coventry City last year.

The Sweden international scored 43 goals in 50 appearances for Sporting last season and has picked up where he left off. He is already on eight league goals for the new campaign despite playing in just six matches for the Portuguese heavyweights.

Gyokeres scored again for Sporting on Friday night, converting a penalty as they cruised to a routine 3-0 victory over Arouca. It means he is now on 11 goals and five assists for club and country this season, with Arsenal almost certainly watching him closely.

The Gunners were linked with a potential move for Gyokeres during the summer, but nothing materialised and he ended up staying at Sporting. He is thought to have an £85million release clause but it was reported that Sporting were prepared to listen to offers in the region of £43m.

However, it seems they have now revised their stance with Sporting boss Ruben Amorim confirming that Gyokeres will not be sold for anything less than the value of his release clause.

Speaking ahead of Friday’s game, he said: “It’s a very high clause. Gyokeres is a great player and I think he’s worth 100 million [euros]. That’s the price he has and we have to go ahead with it. Whoever wants to [sign him] will have to pay 100 million euros.”

Sporting president Frederico Varandas recently made similar comments, telling Record: “I’ve seen inferior players being transferred for over 100 million euros, great players for under 100 million euros.

“Sporting is happy to have Viktor and he is happy here. During the transfer market, there wasn’t a day without news saying that Viktor was leaving. The transfer market closed and these questions continue. But hey, we live with it and that’s how it will be.”

Gyokeres spoke out about his lack of a move during the transfer window, with the 26-year-old suggesting he had been priced out of a Premier League switch due to his release clause.

“They wanted most of the starting players to stay and held us tight,” he told Sport Bladet. “That’s how it turned out, but I enjoy Sporting very much, so for me it was no problem to stay.

“It [the release clause] was probably a bit too much because nothing came of it. Of course, it’s a lot of money, but we’ll see what happens next window.”