€1m Gyokeres mistake: Why Man Utd should be EMBARRASSED to bid for Sporting star

Robin Bairner

• Updated: 6 Nov 2024 09:18 GMT
• 4 min read

Viktor Gyokeres is the name on everyone’s lips after the Sporting CP striker smashed a hat-trick by Manchester City in an incredible 4-1 victory on Tuesday in the Champions League.

By netting three times against Pep Guardiola’s side, Gyokeres joined an exclusive club of just three players who have completed this achievement. Lionel Messi and Christopher Nkunku have previously done it.

His head-turning performance, meanwhile, will only build further transfer hype before the January transfer window.

Arsenal had made him their No.1 priority in the summer before being put off by Sporting’s insistence that they pay his full €100 million release fee, while Chelsea were also interested in briefly.

Manchester United, meanwhile, are the third club thought to be seriously in the running because of the influence that Ruben Amorim, who will take charge of the Red Devils next week, has had on his career.

There's just no stopping Viktor Gyökeres in that position 🤖

21st goal of the campaign for the Sporting striker.

📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/uhgkDhbuuZ

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) November 5, 2024

Agent Hasan Cetinkaya took him to Sporting purely because of the head coach, he has previously admitted, while he also said that Amorim’s departure increases the possibility of Gyokeres requesting a transfer.

With Dimitar Berbatov, the legendary Premier League striker, describing Man Utd’s forward options as “embarrassing”, it’s clear that the incoming manager needs to do something, with the Sweden international looking a perfect fit.

Current ETV

Viktor Gyökeres

F (C)

Sporting CP

Viktor Gyökeres

F (C)

Sporting CP

€42.7M

ETV Range

€32M - €53.3M

View full profile

Ashworth's Gyokeres mistake

But even ignoring reports that Gyokeres, whose Estimated Transfer Value (ETV) has exploded to €42.7m this season and will continue to grow off the back of his Man City display, sees United as a “chaos club”, there is one aspect of a move to Old Trafford that should leave the Red Devils more than a little red faced: Dan Ashworth.

The former Newcastle executive is considered a key pillar of Ineos’ project with the club. Indeed, it took them weeks of battling with the St James’ Park side to prise him away from their Premier League rivals.

Ashworth, though, was the man who sold Gyokeres for just €1.2 million from Brighton to Coventry just three years ago.

At that point, the Swede seemed to be washed up. Instead, he has gone goal crazy, scoring 40 times in two seasons with the Championship side before grabbing 43 alone after moving to Sporting for €24m in the summer of 2023. He is on pace to obliterate that total this time around, having already netted 23 times in 17 games.

STATS

Viktor Gyökeres

F (C)

Sporting CP

Viktor Gyökeres

F (C)

Sporting CP

All Tournaments

2024/25

• 17

  Games

• 23

  Goals

• 8

  Assists

View all stats

Quite how a conversation would go down between Ashworth and Gyokeres, who is surely the biggest mistake of his career in football, is anyone’s guess.

Equally, it will be more than a little awkward when Amorim inevitably brings the Swede’s name up in transfer meetings.

Of course, Ashworth will not be a deal breaker for United – far from it – but it would be understandable if Gyokeres had some reservations about working under someone who has previously so spectacularly written him off not too long ago.