Chelsea's €100m transfer decision proves Boehly has learned from Caicedo pursuit

Cameron Smith

• Updated: 19 Jan 2024 06:53 GMT
• 5 min read

Chelsea have ruled themselves out of the race to sign Sporting CP star Viktor Gyokeres, despite reports in Portugal suggesting the Blues have lodged an €85 million offer for the striker.

Gyokeres, 25, joined Sporting from Coventry City for just €20 million last summer and he’s proven to be one of the bargain buys of 2023 after an electric start to life at his new club.

The Sweden international has 16 goals and nine assists in 23 league and Europa League games for the Portuguese giants, and that form has resulted in links with several top teams.

Chelsea and Arsenal have both been touted to move for Gyokeres, but the former have ruled out a January pursuit, according to reports.

Portuguese outlet Record recently reported that Chelsea had submitted an €85m bid for the ex-Coventry star, but that has been rubbished by the English press.

The Evening Standard’s Nizaar Kinsella has reported that Chelsea are not actively pursuing Gyokeres, while The Mirror and Fabrizio Romano have backed this up.

While Gyokeres is a great player, Chelsea have made the right decision to move away from pursuing him.

What has Ruben Amorin said about Viktor Gyokeres?

After reports of Chelsea’s bid emerged, Sporting CP manager Ruben Amorin spoke to the media and admitted (as per GOAL): “Obviously, I was informed of the news. As soon as they said it was €85m, I thought: ‘That’s not enough’. It’s only €100m. I’m not worried.

"Obviously, every club has to sell. What they’ve said is that, in the middle of the season, they’ll only leave for the clause. As we can’t control that, I feel quite calm because we can’t do anything about it.

“Of course, we have to look at Viktor’s impact on the team, we’d have to change a lot of things, hence the board’s endeavour to say that players we can’t afford to lose will only leave for the fee.

“I haven’t spoken to Viana about that. Nowadays, there are obviously clubs that can easily pay €100m, but we don’t control that.

“I’m sure there could be offers in the summer. Right now, I don’t know. We’ll have to sell, but right now only for the clause. It’s hard for anyone to beat 100 million.

“I doubt there’s been an offer. I’d be informed, I believe. I don’t believe it was true. €85m is far from our value, we’re not going to suffer in anticipation.”

Why Chelsea were correct to end Viktor Gyokeres pursuit

Although Gyokeres has started this season fantastically after a brilliant final campaign at Coventry, he simply isn’t worth Sporting’s ridiculous asking price.

Of course, Chelsea have a history of paying over-the-odds for players they are desperate to sign - Moises Caicedo is the most obvious example - but Gyokeres isn’t worth €100m.

Caicedo is an excellent player and has been harshly criticised after an under-the-radar start at Stamford Bridge, but he still wasn't worth the fee Chelsea paid to sign him.

As for Gyokeres, the Swede currently has an Estimated Transfer Value (ETV) of just €17.9m, suggesting the figure Sporting are demanding is over five times his value.

Admittedly, Gyokeres has a lot of attributes that are very desirable in a striker; he can run the channels well, his penalty box movement is elite, his hold-up play is excellent and he scores goals on a frequent basis.

Furthermore, exports leaving Portugal for the Premier League have tended to perform well in recent years (Ruben Dias, Bruno Fernandes and Ederson for example), but Darwin Nunez is one such player who has struggled to replicate the same output after making that jump.

The Liverpool man is clearly still a threat in the English top flight and his assist numbers make for pretty reading, but he isn’t scoring at the same frequency as he did in Portugal.

That should be the first warning sign regarding a €100m pursuit of Gyokeres, while the fact he was available for one-fifth of that price after a stellar season at Coventry is another.

Sure, he’s now performed in a European competition and in a higher quality division, but Gyokeres was evidently ready for a Premier League move last summer, but the big clubs waited until it was too late and Sporting swooped.

Gyokeres has enjoyed a brilliant season at Sporting, but there is little evidence to suggest he would be a better fit at Chelsea than Nicolas Jackson and spending €100m on the Sweden star when Victor Osimhen could be available for just €20m more doesn’t make sense.