Viktor Gyokeres transfer doubts rubbished as Arsenal continue in key negotiations with Sporting

Arsenal remain calm in their talks to sign Viktor Gyokeres, football.london understands, as reported on Saturday afternoon. The Gunners are hoping that the Swede will become their marquee signing of the summer and get time to integrate with some pre-season action, whether that is in Asia or back in London with games against Villarreal and Athletic Club before the opening Premier League match of the season at Old Trafford.

Negotiations with Sporting CP are at the final stages, with this week’s discussions taking place to agree on the structure of the add-ons. The Portuguese club are standing firm on several details despite claims of the clubs being just €2.5million (£2.2million) apart, these are believed to be wide of the mark.

The fee agreed in principle is €63.5million (£55million), with €10million (£8.7million) in add-ons. What is being finalised is the structure of the deal, particularly how the add-ons are achieved – it is not as simple as Arsenal stump up €2.5million (£2.2million) and the deal is done.

The frustration of this belief, made worse by misinformation surrounding other clubs such as Manchester United being close to gazumping the Gunners, only further congests the transfer soup. The deal is being worked on, and Arsenal want it done as close to their terms as they can.

Why Arsenal are being shrewd in their talks comes down to a number of factors. First to know is that the deal for Gyokeres will take their spending close to their record in 2023, and they want to spend more.

So far, the club has not sold any players to raise the funds they hope will free up room to find the third attacking addition after Noni Madueke and Gyokeres. However, if they are not able to find suitors or simply no one comes forward with appropriate offers, then they need to have given themselves room to manoeuvre.

Simply paying what clubs want is not going to give them that room. They’ve negotiated cheap fees for Christian Norgaard and Cristhian Mosquera in addition to paying slightly over Martin Zubimendi’s release clause to get more favourable payment terms.

Madueke is seen as an expensive signing, but the market value for Premier League wingers in his age bracket is proving to be well over £50million. Mohammed Kudus, Anthony Elanga, Bryan Mbeumo and potentially Morgan Gibbs-White have all moved, or are expected to move,e for well over the £48.5million initial fee for the former Chelsea winger with add-ons of only £3.5million.

Liverpool are set to pay over £80million for Hugo Ekitike. The 23-year-old has only one good season under his belt with Frankfurt, where he scored 15 goals in 33 games in the Bundesliga. Prior to that, the frontman had 20 goals in 67 league games in France, Denmark, and Germany. This is a decent return for a young player, but the Reds are gambling well over the player’s true value to get the deal done.

This will likely conclude Arne Slot’s business on top of Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez too. Whereas for Arsenal, as mentioned, they still hope to spend more after the deal is hopefully finally agreed for Gyokeres.

Furthermore, the player has firmly committed himself to this move to the club. He has been adamant of his intentions to move to Arsenal, has reportedly refused to play for Sporting again amid claims of a previously agreed gentleman’s agreement of a fee that the Gunners have even exceeded, hence the agreement on this latest overall figure.

It puts Arsenal in a strong negotiating position as Sporting fight for power in the talks over a player desperate to leave and play for the other party. If the deal was to collapse, and the reason was the Gunners did indeed refuse to pay such a meagre amount in the context of the deal, scrutiny would be warranted but so far that is not the case and until it is, the hysteria has not been vindicated.

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