The agent of Arsenal forward Viktor Gyokeres has revealed how Sporting Lisbon attempted to engineer the player’s sale to Manchester United this summer.
Gyokeres joined Arsenal in a £63.7m deal in the summer after a prolific period in Portugal. The Swedish striker scored 97 goals in 102 games for Sporting to attract interest from Europe’s top teams.
Manchester United were among the sides interested, with ex-Sporting manager Ruben Amorim reportedly keen on a reunion with the player.
Gyokeres’ agent, Hasan Cetinkaya, has now revealed how Manchester United made a superior bid to Arsenal. However, he said Gyokeres had given his commitment to Arsenal, despite Sporting’s preference to sell elsewhere. Manchester United instead signed Benjamin Sesko, agreeing an initial £66m fee for the RB Leipzig frontman.
“They [Sporting] concluded a deal with Manchester United behind our backs, that was a problem,” he said.
“They offered a higher transfer fee. If [Hugo] Viana were still at Sporting, the deal would have been done within an hour. Everything was written, but we didn’t have time to start a legal battle.
“They offered him to Real Madrid, made headlines with Madrid and even United – but from day one, there was a commitment to Arsenal.”
