Arsenal overhear fierce Gyokeres transfer warning as Sporting president blasts ‘geniuses’ behind no-show

Sporting's president has hit back strongly at Gyokeres and his advisors

Sporting CP president Frederico Varandas has challenged Viktor Gyokeres and his advisors for his failure to report for pre-season training, seen as a strategy to push through his move to Arsenal.

Arsenal have made Gyokeres their top target for the striker position but are yet to meet Sporting’s asking price, which the player’s representatives believe has unfairly changed. Sporting have been holding out for a package worth €80m (£69.1m), but they want at least €70m (£60.5m) of that guaranteed.

In his latest effort to push Sporting to accept his departure after two prolific seasons in Portugal, Gyokeres didn’t report for pre-season training by the cut-off point he’d been instructed about by the club.

Sporting have set off for a training camp in the Algarve without their striker, who has scored 97 goals in 102 games for them since joining from Coventry City in 2023.

But Gyokeres can now expect a ‘hefty fine’, according to Varandas – who has warned him (and, by consequence, Arsenal) that he won’t bow down to any pressure and that his current strategy is merely making it ‘more complicated’ for a sale to go through.

“We’re calm,” Varandas stated to Agencia Lusa. “Everything will be resolved with the close of the market, a hefty fine and an apology to the group.”

Gyokeres has a €100m (£86.4m) release clause, but Sporting aren’t asking for the full amount. Last summer, when he stayed at the club, the Sweden international was under the impression that Sporting would make his exit in 2025 easier out of gratitude.

But they are holding firm with their €80m request, which would see them quadruple their investment in him.

Arsenal aren’t shy of spending big on the striker they’ve chosen as their prime target (instead of RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko), but haven’t hit the guarantee of base fee Sporting are seeking yet.

But Varandas has warned: “If they don’t want to pay the fair market value for Viktor, we’re very comfortable with that for the next three years.”

Indeed, Gyokeres’ contract in Lisbon lasts until 2028, but he has no intention of pulling on the Sporting shirt again.

By not even turning up for training, though, he has crossed a line in Varandas’ eyes, which has led the Sporting president to lash out at the advisors behind the decision who are trying to orchestrate his move to Arsenal.

“If the geniuses who are drawing up this strategy think that this is putting pressure on me to make it easier to leave, not only are they completely wrong, but they are also making it more complicated for the player to leave,” Varandas insisted.

“Nobody is above the interests of the club. Whoever they are.”

What has Gyokeres said on his future?

Gyokeres was speaking about his future earlier this week, although the quotes have only just surfaced via L’Equipe.

The 27-year-old claimed he wasn’t thinking about his transfer status, although his subsequent actions – unless there were any unknown medical or family reasons – have offered a different perspective.

“That’s football, you never know,” he said. “I don’t think about it; we’ll see what happens.

“If something happens, it will. The most important thing for me is to play for a club that really wants me.”

Arsenal have been working on signing a new striker who can help them go one step further after finishing as runners up in the Premier League for the past three seasons running, twice to Manchester City and once to Liverpool.

While Gyokeres’ previous Premier League spell with Brighton never got off the ground, he has become one of Europe’s most regular goalscorers over the past couple of years.

He has proven himself in the Championship before with Coventry, but has admitted an eagerness to show what he can do in the top flight.

“It’s one of the biggest leagues in Europe,” he said. “I spent several years without being able to play a single match. So, of course, it’s something I’d like to do. It would be great revenge!”

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Viktor Gyokeres: An unusual rise to the top

Gyokeres is one of the most sought-after strikers in Europe at present. And with previous spells at Brighton, St. Pauli and Coventry, he’s taken an unusual path to the top.

The Stockholm native was just 19 years old when he signed for the Seagulls after impressing with IF Brommapojkarna in the Swedish second tier and winning the Golden Boot at the 2017 UEFA European Under-19 Championship. He started out in Brighton’s under-23s and made eight senior appearances in total for the club, but he never featured in a Premier League match.

Gyokeres was only mildly productive during a loan spell with St. Pauli in the 2. Bundesliga in the 2019-20 season, scoring seven goals in 28 games. And a loan with Swansea City in the Championship over the first half of the following campaign brought even less fortune for the 6ft 2ins striker, who was scoreless across 11 league outings.

It was then on to Coventry, in another loan deal, for the second half of the 2020-21 season. Although he found the net just three times in 19 appearances, the Sky Blues evidently saw enough potential in the forward to make the move permanent, agreeing a £1 million deal with Brighton.

And it proved to be money incredibly well spent. Gyokeres scored 18 goals in 47 all-competition games in his first full season with the club. He built on that performance the following season, too, bagging 22 times in 50 games, firing Mark Robins’ side into the play-offs and earning a place in the 2022-23 EFL Championship team of the Season.

Gyokeres’ superlative form with Coventry caught the eye of Sporting, who splashed a club record £16.6million (€20m, $20.26m) to sign the Swede in July 2023.

In Lisbon, Gyokeres has developed into not only a frighteningly prolific goal-scorer but also one of the most well-rounded elite forwards in Europe.

At Coventry, he’d thrived in a counter-attacking side by utilising his searing pace to attack opponents with blistering runs into the half-spaces, often driving through the inside-left position before cutting centrally to finish with his stronger right foot.

He has retained those traits in Portugal, too, while also developing his ability to find space in the penalty area with savvy, sharp movements over short distances. And, as Sporting are a more possession-based outfit than the Sky Blues were during his time in England, Gyokeres has improved his creativity and hold-up play, employing his large frame to shield the ball and feed midfield runners.

Especially when he worked under Ruben Amorim, Gyokeres has led Sporting’s efforts to regain the ball from the front by closing down defenders and intelligently jumping into passing lanes to grab interceptions and launch attacks from within the final third of the pitch.

Gyokeres finished the season with 29 goals in 33 league games, powering Sporting’s title triumph and named the Primeira Liga’s top scorer and Player of the Year, adding to six Player of the Month awards in Portugal.

It wasn’t just a flash in the pan, either, with Gyokeres not just retaining his form but exceeding it further in his second season – and even after the departure of Amorim to Manchester United.

Not affected by the chance of a summer exit passing him by, Gyokeres scored 54 goals from 52 games in 2024-25, also adding 13 assists. There was another golden boot to be added to his collection, as well as one more player of the month prize.

He is looking better value for money with each passing goal-laden week