Viktor Gyokeres admission on his move ahead of ‘next’ transfer window as Coventry City completed loan move
Coventry City transfer news from CoventryLive as former favourite Viktor Gyokeres reveals the reasons behind him not moving from Sporting Lisbon this summer and what lies ahead
Viktor Gyokeres has hinted that he could get a big transfer move in the “next window” after Sporting Lisbon kept a tight grip on the former Coventry City striker this summer.
Speaking about the on-going speculation about his future, the 26-year-old has suggested he was priced out of the market by Sporting amid reported interest from Arsenal, Chelsea and a host of other interested clubs across Europe.
The Swedish striker was heavily linked with a switch of clubs following his outstanding goalscoring exploits in the 2023/24 season when he smashed in 43 goals and provided 15 assists in 50 games in all competitions to fire Sporting to the Portuguese league title.
With the player boasting a release clause worth £85million, Gyokeres believes the huge sum of money put off potential suitors. The Sky Blues have a sell-on clause from when they sold the striker in the summer of 2023 for just over £20million (including bonuses) and stand to get a cash boost of 10 percent on any profit made on the player. Therefore, if he was sold for £85m, City would get £6.5m (10 percent of £65m).
Gyokeres has told Swedish newspaper Sport Bladet: “They (Sporting) wanted most of the starting players to stay and held us tight. That’s how it turned out, but I enjoy Sporting very much, so for me it was no problem to stay.”
Gyokeres then refused to rule out a move away from Sporting in 2025 as he remained coy over his future.
He added: “Of course. You want to play at the highest level. It (his £85m release clause) was probably a bit too much because nothing came of it. Of course it’s a lot of money. But we’ll see what happens next window.
“Nothing happened and it feels like I had a pretty good season. So yes, that’s probably why there was simply no move. But that’s what Sporting thinks I’m worth, and then you have to respect that.
“I enjoy myself very much in Sporting and can’t complain about anything, so it’s absolutely no problem for me to stay. Of course, you aim to test other leagues and a higher level, but I have no stress.”
Gyokeres has started the new season in sensational form, scoring seven goals and providing three assists in five club matches. He has found the back of the net in each of the opening four top-flight matches and he even found the net against Azerbaijan for Sweden in their 3-0 Nations League victory on Thursday night.
