Arsenal have finally come to an agreement with Sporting to sign Viktor Gyokeres, but it took a lot of negotiation to get there.
The future of the Swedish striker has been one of the transfer sagas of the summer so far, with a number of clubs pursuing his signature.
The former Coventry City star had plenty of options in front of him, including Manchester United, Juventus and a move to Saudi Arabia, but for some time Arsenal have led the race to sign him.
However, despite being the player’s first choice and other clubs seemingly giving up on the Gyokeres race, it was not plain sailing for the Gunners.
Sporting were sticking to their guns on a transfer fee and even though the striker went on strike, the deal appeared to be on the rocks, with club president Frederico Varandas sounding very unhappy about how things were progressing.
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Sunday saw a breakthrough, though, with transfer expert Fabrizio Romano reporting what happened over two meetings to finally agree a deal.
Arsenal will pay an initial fee of €63.5m (£55m) plus €10m (£8.6m) in add-ons for the 27-year-old.
That fee is actually less than the €70million (£60.2m) in an initial fee which Sporting were reportedly holding out for during negotiations.
A crucial breakthrough came as agents involved agreed to reduce their commission from Sporting from 10 per cent.
Romano reports that Arsenal will pay the player’s agent some of that commission instead of Sporting, which will make the final deal for Gyokeres a little higher than the transfer fee suggests.
It is a significant turnaround as it was only over the weekend that Varandas hit out at seemingly everyone involved in trying to do the Gyokeres deal.
‘If the geniuses who are devising this strategy think this puts pressure on me to facilitate an exit, they are not only completely wrong but are also making the player’s exit conditions even more complicated,’ Varandas said.
‘No one is above the interests of the club, whoever they are.
‘If they don’t want to pay for Viktor fair market value, we are perfectly comfortable with this for the next three years [the time left on Gyokeres’ contract].
‘We are calm about all this. Everything can be resolved with a market closure, a heavy fine, and an apology to the group.’
Gyokeres made it clear he wants another crack at the Premier League after failing to make an impact there last time he was in England.
The Swede was at Brighton from 2018-21 but never made a Premier League appearance, before leaving for Coventry.
Few would have predicted his career path from there on in, but now he says he is motivated by revenge.
‘It’s one of the biggest leagues in Europe,’ Gyokeres told France Football.
‘I spent several years there without being able to play a single match. So, of course, it’s something I would like to do. It would be a great revenge.’