Viktor Gyokeres has kept the rest of Sporting’s squad guessing over his future, telling team-mates he’s not a ‘fortune teller’ ahead of the summer transfer window.
The 26-year-old striker is expected to move on from Sporting after another barnstorming season in the Primeira Liga, in which he finished with an extraordinary tally of 39 goals in 33 games.
Determined to leave Sporting on a high, Gyokeres helped the club successfully defend their league title with his incredible goalscoring exploits – and the forward will hope to add the Portuguese Cup to his collection this weekend.
Beyond that, there remains uncertainty over what is next for Gyokeres, with the Premier League’s elite battling it out for the prolific Swede.
Arsenal are determined to strengthen up front after another trophyless campaign and are believed to be working on a bumper contract offer to lure Gyokeres to the Emirates.
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Another possible destination being mooted for Gyokeres is Manchester United, where the attacker would be reunited with his former Sporting head coach Ruben Amorim.
The Red Devils will reportedly accelerate their efforts to capture Gyokeres following their all-important Europa League final clash with Tottenham, which will have significant repercussions when it comes to the club’s transfer dealings.
Speaking to Canal 11 ahead of the Portuguese Cup final, Sporting midfielder Pedro Goncalves said the rest of Sporting’s squad were still in dark over what the future holds for their sought-after team-mate.
Quizzed on whether he had asked Gyokeres to stay, Goncalves replied: ‘I asked him and we all asked him. He says he’s not a fortune teller.
‘We still have the Portuguese Cup against Benfica to play.
‘I have a very good relationship with him, but I don’t talk about it with him.
‘What I know is because of Fabrizio Romano… I’m sticking with him. I don’t know if he’s going to leave.’
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Goncalves believes Gyokeres is a different player to the one that joined Sporting from Coventry City just two years ago.
‘I feel like he’s evolved a lot since he arrived,’ he added.
‘There are training sessions where it seems like he’s holding back.’
Goncalves says he, Gyokeres and the rest of the Sporting dressing room have a ‘huge desire’ to defeat Benfica to seal the double on Sunday.
‘We really want the double,’ the Portugal international explained.
‘Are Sporting coming in better emotionally? We don’t look at it that way. It’s always complicated, a 50/50 game.
We’ll control what we can, but it’s always a game with a lot of stress and anxiety.
‘Of course, we’ll go in with a huge desire to win and do the double, something that Sporting fans really want.’
Gyokeres, who turns 27 in a months’ time, is said to be available for a fee in the region of £60million this summer.
The Sweden international’s current contract in Lisbon runs through to June 2028.
No stranger to English football, Gyokeres played for Brighton and Swanseabefore joining Coventry in 2021, where he shone across two eye-catching seasons in the Championship.
Sporting stand to make make a tidy profit on Gyokeres given they signed the striker from Coventry for a fee of just £16.7m.
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