Manchester United have been heavily linked with Viktor Gyokeres but the Sporting CP striker narrowly missed out on joining another club.. Gyokeres has emerged as one of the leading forwards in European football since his initial £16million (€20m) move from Coventry City to the Portuguese giants in 2023. Since linking up with Ruben Amorim’s old side, the 26-year-old has scored a phenomenal 77 goals in 85 games, helping fire the club to the Primeira Liga title last season.. United’s faltering forward line and Gyokeres’ existing connection to new boss Amorim has led to reports that the Sweden international will be one of the club’s top targets in the summer transfer window. However, Gyokeres’ career nearly took a different direction as he began attracting interest from other clubs during his time at Coventry.. “Viktor Gyokeres’ agent told me I was the only French sporting director who called him when he was at Coventry,” Brest sporting director Gregory Lorenzi has told L’Equipe. “I was willing to pay €4-5m (£3.3-4.1m), but the asking price was €8m (£6.6m).”. This likely would have been after Gyokeres’ first permanent season with the Sky Blues in 2022, where he scored 18 times across all competitions. The following year, his 22-goal tally helped take Mark Robins’ side to within a penalty shootout of the Premier League before joining Sporting for more than double his previous asking price.. Brest and Lorenzi must rue the missed opportunity to have signed Gyokeres at such a bargain price, though the French side did still reach the Champions League after finishing third in Ligue 1 last season. The striker’s earlier £6.6m (€8m) asking price is a far cry from the £83m (€100m) release clause in his current contract, though United may not have to pay the full amount.. Ruben Amorim with Viktor Gyokeres (Image: Joao Rico/DeFodi Images via Getty Images). Reports in Portugal have claimed that Gyokeres and Sporting reached a ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ last month to sell the Swedish striker for a fee between £58.6m and £62.8m (€70-75m) in the summer. While this could be positive for United, the lower asking price may alert other clubs to his availability, and the possibility of no European football next season could also work against Amorim’s side.. Gyokeres has scored 34 goals in 35 games for Sporting this season, including a Champions League hat-trick against Manchester City. It is a significantly higher goal tally than Joshua Zirkzee and Rasmus Hojlund’s combined total of 12.. United signed full-back Patrick Dorgu in the January window but ultimately took a cautious approach to recruitment as the club worked to comply with financial regulations. However, Amorim hinted at Gyokeres’ availability when the former Sporting coach was bound for Old Trafford. “Viktor has to stay until the end of the season, and then his life maybe is going somewhere else,” he said in November.
