Over the past few weeks, several reports from England and Portugal have been speaking of Arsenal’s interest Sporting star Viktor Gyokeres.
It’s been repeatedly claimed that as the Gunners seek a new centre-forward for next season, they see the Lions’ striker as a big solution.
It turns out that as the Swedish media now talks about Arsenal’s interest in Gyokeres, Fotboll Direkt comes up to put a break on those rumours.
The outlet claims to have spoken to several English sources that deny the Gunners’ chase for the centre-forward.
“That is simply not true. I have asked the question and he is simply not the profile they are looking for,” an anonymous source said.
Fotboll Direkt even claims that Edu Gaspar is said to ‘firmly deny’ Arsenal’s interest in Gyokeres, as the club are not in the ‘slightest contact’ with the player, as he’s not a profile the club are looking to sign in the summer.
We’re now curious to see how the Portuguese media will take those claims, as they had been sounding quite sure that the London side would go for the striker this summer.
Since arriving at Sporting, Gyokeres has 36 goals and 16 assists in 43 appearances, so it’s not strange that he’s linked to Europe’s biggest clubs. His €100m release clause is expected to be his price tag in the next transfer market.
Whether Arsenal are denying the story to let them negotiate in peace isn’t clear, but that’s exactly what Manchester United tried to do when signing Bruno Fernandes from Sporting.