Viktor Gyokeres’ representative has revealed that Manchester United had agreed a transfer fee with Sporting for more than Arsenal’s £63 million deal.
After weeks of negotiations during the summer transfer window, Arsenal finally agreed a deal with Sporting for the 27-year-old worth €63.5m (£54.8m) up front, plus €10m (£8.6m) in add-ons.
Gyokeres had established himself as one of Europe’s most in-demand strikers after scoring 97 goals in 102 appearances during his two seasons at Sporting.
United failed with their attempt to reunite Gyokeres with Ruben Amorim following their time together at Sporting, while the Sweden international also rejected a lucrative move to the Saudi Pro League.
Speaking on the Studio Allsvenskan podcast, Jonathan Chalkias, who works as an assistant to Gyokeres’s agent Hasan Cetinkaya, claims the striker was intent on joining Arsenal throughout the summer.
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‘It was such a lot of money [from the Saudi Pro League], it was well over 400 million net per year,’ Chalkias said.
‘It’s a ridiculous amount of money. It’s better Viktor answers that question some day, we didn’t once push him in that way.
‘I think at the end of the day, money comes and money goes. Making this move to Arsenal gives us good marketing, too. He was actually never even that way, he didn’t think about it.
‘But there was also the problem with Sporting that they had finalised the deal with United behind our backs.
‘They [Sporting] had agreed because United paid a much higher transfer fee, but they didn’t get any attention. Every time they called it was, ‘no, no, no’, because he wanted to go to Arsenal.’
Asked why Gyokeres was intent on joining Arsenal, Chalkias replied: ‘It’s just that they haven’t had a new one [striker] in the last two years, Arteta spoke with him, to go to a club that hasn’t won in a few years.
‘Getting to do it on the biggest stage, living in London, playing for Arsenal, it doesn’t get much bigger.
‘And this is a club that can not only win the Premier League, they can win the Champions League, they are an incredible team. And there’s a lot of talk about their defensive and midfield play and that they need a striker to score those goals.’
Gyokeres has scored three goals in 10 appearances for Mikel Arteta’s side this season.
When asked for his view on Gyokeres’ start at Arsenal, Chalkias said: ‘Really good, I think not above expectations but good.
‘I think everything will be better when he settles down but he has started every game and they are leading the Premier League and they have faced City, United away, Newcastle away and Liverpool away, not that bad.
‘I think if he just does what he’s good at he’ll score many goals there.’
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