Arsenal are believed to be on pole position for the signing of Viktor Gyokeres with a sizeable opening offer in the works for the Sporting Lisbon striker and with Liverpool chances of gazumping them to his signature on the decline.
The Sweden striker has catapulted himself into the upper echelons of strikers in the world game, off the back of a brilliant first season in Portugal, where he scored 43 goals and added 15 assists from 50 appearances in all competitions. That record of a goal contribution every 0.86 appearances has put Gyokeres firmly on the radar of some of the world’s biggest sides, who would love to add the prolific 26-year-old to their ranks.
Indeed, Gyokeres has been strongly linked with a move back to England this summer, having previously starred for Coventry and before that Brighton.
To that end, Chelsea have been linked with his signature, though the strongest interest has come from Arsenal, with sporting director Edu said to be a huge admirer of the Swede and feeling the player would be perfect for Mikel Arteta’s system.
However, in the last 24 hours, Liverpool have also been touted as candidates for his signature with Arne Slot looking into ways to freshen up his attack this summer.
Whoever does move for him, however, Sporting CP know they are protected by the mammoth €100m (£84.6m) exit clause they placed in his contract when signing Gyokeres from Coventry last summer.
As a result, they are likely to drive a hard bargain if any Premier League side comes calling and follows up their interest with a firm bid.
Arsenal ready giant opening offer for Viktor Gyokeres
However, TEAMtalk has learned that, while Liverpool do hold a firm interest in the player’s services, he is not currently someone they are looking to bid for, as things stand.
Arne Slot is ready to place his trust in current No 9, Darwin Nunez, while the new RedLiverpool believe £105 double deal is ON with current star key to monumental attacking transfer
s boss has other transfer priorities this summer, most notably a new defender and a central midfielder.
And with Arsenal’s need for a new centre forward plainly obvious, trusted transfer guru Fabrizio Romano has confirmed the Gunners are ready to launch an opening offer for the 20-times capped Sweden international.
Per the Italian, the opening offer from the Gunners will likely be worth between £55m and £60m (€65m and €70.9m).
Whether that is enough to tempt Sporting to cash in remains to be seen and it is likely they will drive and drive up his price before agreeing a deal with the Gunners, whom many feel just now need a prolific front man to dethrone Manchester City from their four-year reign as Premier League champions.
Gyokeres, who has struck an impressive 119 goals in 280 career games, himself insists he is happy in the Portuguese capital, though as he admitted at the back end of last season, does not know what the future holds for him.
“It’s football, I can’t promise anything, I have a contract and I won’t be sad if I stay,” Gyokeres told A Bola in May.
“I’m very happy, but we’ll see what happens. We can’t predict much, but let’s see what next year will be like, we still have games this season.”
The Gunners’ transfer kitty will also soon be boosted by the imminent sale of Emile Smith Rowe with the academy star nearing a £35m move across London to Fulham.
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