Chelsea target Viktor Gyokeres breaks silence on transfer future

Cameron Smith

• 21 Jan 2024 14:15 CST
• 2 min read

Sporting CP forward Viktor Gyokeres has spoken out following reports of transfer interest from Premier League giants Chelsea.

Gyokeres, 25, joined Sporting from Coventry City during the most recent summer transfer window and his first six months in Portugal have been immense.

The Sweden international has 19 goals and nine assists in just 24 games across all competitions this season and his form has attracted reported interest from Chelsea.

Arsenal have also been linked previously, although the Gunners have moved away from pursuing Gyokeres in recent months, amid their interest in Brentford star Ivan Toney.

Although Portuguese media recently reported that Chelsea lodged an €85 million bid to sign Gyokeres, this was quickly dismissed by The Evening Standard’s Nizaar Kinsella and transfer expert Fabrizio Romano.

Regardless, the Blues have still been linked with a January move for the former Brighton & Hove Albion forward, but Gyokeres isn’t thinking about a possible move to Stamford Bridge.

He was asked about his transfer future by O Jogo (via 90min) and admitted: “I don't think anything about it [Chelsea interest]. 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 percent focused on this and the club.”

What has Ruben Amorin said about Viktor Gyokeres?

Sporting CP boss Ruben Amorin was also recently questioned about Gyokeres’ future following the aforementioned reports of Chelsea’s January bid.

“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,” he said (as per GOAL).

"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 €100m.

“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.”