Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City are reportedly set to rival Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United for the signature of a €70m-rated attacker.
Manchester City are reportedly set to rival Manchester United for the signature of Sporting Lisbon‘s star striker Viktor Gyokeres.
The 26-year-old has been nothing short of exceptional in front of goal for Sporting since moving to Lisbon in 2023, scored 66 goals and providing 19 assists in 67 games across all competitions.
Only Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane (36 goals, eight assists) and PSV Eindhoven’s Luuk de Jong (29 goals, 15 assists) recorded more domestic goal involvements than Gyokeres (29 goals, 10 assists) across Europe’s top-seven leagues last season.
Gyokeres has since made an electric start to the 2024-25 campaign, scored 23 goals in just 17 appearances for Sporting, including a hat-trick against Man City in an impressive 4-1 victory in the Champions League on Tuesday.
The former Coventry City striker’s impressive rise on the European stage has understandably caught the eye of some of Europe’s top clubs who have been tipped to move for the Sweden international in 2025.
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Could Gyokeres reunite with Amorim at Man United?
Gyokeres has excelled at Sporting under head coach Ruben Amorim and it has since been suggested that the striker could reunite with the 39-year-old boss at Man United.
Amorim has insisted that he will not be targeting any Sporting players during the January transfer window, but a raid of his former club in the summer cannot be entirely ruled out.
Gyokeres himself has said that he is “enjoying it” at Sporting, but he has refused to rule out a move away from the reigning Primeira Liga champions next summer.
Man United, Arsenal and Chelsea are all said to be keeping tabs on Gyokeres’s situation and have been made aware that the striker could be available for a cut-price fee between €60m (£49.9m) and €70m (£58.2m), according to Sky Deutschland reporter Florian Plettenberg.
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Man City join race for in-demand Gyokeres
Plettenberg claims that Premier League champions Man City are another club aware of Gyokeres’s valuation and ‘are seriously interested’ in luring him to the Etihad Stadium.
Pep Guardiola‘s side already boasts one of the most prolific strikers in Europe in the form of Erling Haaland, who has scored an impressive 104 goals in 113 appearances for Man City across all competitions since joining the club in 2022.
However, the Citizens have been tipped to recruit a new centre-forward following the club-record sale of Julian Alvarez to Atletico Madrid for £82m in the summer.
Guardiola will reportedly have money to spend in January and could bolster his currently depleted squad with the addition of at least two new players.
However, it remains to be seen whether Man City will be willing to splash the cash on Gyokeres in the winter window, or whether the Swede has any interest in leaving Sporting midway through the season.