Romano issues blunt response to €100m Chelsea transfer links

Tom Weber

• 22 Jan 2024 16:06 GMT
• 3 min read

Fabrizio Romano has reiterated that there is no chance Viktor Gyokeres moves to Chelsea in January.

The Swedish sensation, who has notched a ridiculous 22 goals and 10 assists in 25 games this term, continues to be linked with a spectacular January move to Chelsea. This is despite the fact that already last week Portuguese reports of a big-money bid by Chelsea were quickly rubbished by English media and Fabrizio Romano.

At the time, Romano wrote on X: "Chelsea have not submitted any bid for Viktor Gyokeres despite recent reports. Gyokeres having a fantastic season at Sporting and scouted by many top clubs but no negotiations taking place now."

The Sporting CP star boasts a €100 million release clause, making a January deal tough to pull off for even the richest of clubs. Moreover, the 25-year-old recently dismissed the transfer rumours himself. “I don't think anything about it," he told O Jogo.

"I'm here and we have important games, I'm focused on that. There's a lot of talk on social media and other places, but I'm not focused on that. I don't think about anything else. I'm here now and I'm 100 per cent focused on this and the club.”

What did Romano say?

Yet the links to Chelsea are refusing to go away, which has now prompted a blunt response from Fabrizio Romano. "I’m getting a lot of questions about Viktor Gyokeres and Chelsea," Romano wrote on Substack, "it’s not possible for him to move this January, it’s not going to happen."

"The only way is to pay the release clause, but at the moment no one is paying it, and there is no intention from Chelsea to bid for him. They are not working on this deal, so forget about it, at least for this transfer window."

"In the future, we’ll see if things change, but it’s also important to say that, at the moment, Gyokeres wants to stay at Sporting Lisbon until at least the end of the season and respect the club. In the summer, we’ll see what happens, but remember that he has that €100m release clause."