The recent bad news for Arsenal striker Gabriel Jesus, who suffered a serious ACL injury in the FA Cup third-round defeat to Manchester United, leaves Mikel Arteta even more in need of a January attacking signing than he already was.
The Gunners still have a reasonable chance of reeling in current Premier League leaders Liverpool to break a 21-year title drought, but the biggest issue with their strong season so far has been their goalscoring threat.
With Jesus out for the rest of the season and Kai Havertz not regarded as being the right man to start week-in, week-out as the main striker, Arsenal’s long-standing interest in Viktor Gyokeres has reached a new peak in terms of fan buzz.
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Gyokeres has a release clause reported to be around £83million, which rules out a move for pretty much all EPL sides due to the Profit and Sustainability Rules.
But, BBC Sport claimed in November that Sporting CP would be willing to accept closer to £65m, which may put some of the bigger sides in play this month.
The Mirror had it on good authority on Friday morning that Arsenal had a ‘green light’ to attempt to finalise this deal.
Arsenal’s circumstances make them obvious suitors, but The Independent report that they may not be in the driver’s seat.
English clubs interested in Viktor Gyokeres
Manchester United, themselves looking at mid-season enforcements in order to salvage their campaign under new boss Ruben Amorim, could leverage the head coach’s previous relationship with Sporting CP and Gyokeres to leapfrog Arsenal at the negotiation table.
It will be interesting to see whether Gyokeres values working with Amorim once more over potentially spearheading a late title challenge, should both clubs be willing to find the approximate £65m for his services.
And if Arsenal are pipped to signing Gyokeres by the team against whom Jesus suffered such a terrible injury, it’d surely feel like insult being added to — well, you know.
And, of course, another English club watching the situation very closely is Coventry City. The Championship side will claim 10% of the profits from the sale due to a sell-on clause.
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