Viktor Gyokeres is summer target for both Manchester United and Arsenal; Utd have made approaches through intermediaries to explore the conditions of potential deal; Sporting president says club has received ‘no offers’, but striker will be allowed to leave for less than release clause

European football expert Andy Brassell discusses whether Viktor Gyokeres is the answer for Manchester United and if Arsenal are chasing the wrong striker in Benjamin Sesko

Sporting have not received any offers for Viktor Gyokeres and the striker will not be allowed to leave for £59m (€70m) this summer, club president Frederico Varandas said on Wednesday morning.

Varandas has disputed the existence of a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ with Gyokeres’ agent that would allow the Man Utd and Arsenal target to leave for a fixed fee of £50.8m (€60m) plus £8.4m (€10m) in add-ons.

Reports in Portugal claim Gyokeres has told Sporting he will not play for them again because he feels disappointed they have not kept to their promise.

Varandas says he has guaranteed that Gyokeres will be allowed to go for less than his €100m release clause but has made clear there will be an open negotiation for the 27-year-old, who scored 54 goals in 52 games for Sporting last season.

Sky Sports News’ Dharmesh Sheth explains how Manchester United are able to afford all their top transfer targets, such as the confirmed deal for Matheus Cunha and potential moves for Bryan Mbeumo and Viktor Gyokeres
“I can guarantee that Viktor Gyokeres will not leave for 60m euros plus 10m euros because I never promised that,” said Varandas. “To this day, Sporting has not received an offer for Gyokeres – neither today nor last summer.”

Varandas says Gyokeres’ agent sought assurances from him and sporting director Hugo Viana – who has now left to join Man City in a similar role – that the player would be allowed to leave for less than his release clause in a meeting earlier this season.

The Sporting president said the agent also asked for an agreement over the asking price – but he was unwilling to commit to specific numbers.

Varandas added: “What was agreed in that meeting? That Sporting would not demand the release clause [this summer].

“For one reason, it was because we know no player leaves Portugal at 27 for €100m or €90m euros.

“In that same meeting the agent wanted to anchor the exit to a value. I said this sentence: ‘It’s not worth us setting a value because I don’t know what will happen in a year’s time. I don’t know if it will be 40m euros, 60m or 80m. What I can guarantee is that I will not demand 100m euros.'”

How Gyokeres’ transfer value has rocketed from £450k to £75m

Two years after signing him for around £20m from Coventry, Sporting stand to make a huge profit on Viktor Gyokeres.

The 27-year-old, who hit 40 goals in 97 games after joining Coventry from Brighton in 2021, has scaled new heights in Portugal, scoring 97 times in 102 games for Sporting in all competitions since his arrival in 2023 and becoming one of the most coveted strikers in Europe.

Manchester United have made an initial approach over a potential reunion with his former boss Ruben Amorim. Gyokeres is also of interest to Arsenal as the Gunners aim to strengthen their attack.

His scoring exploits for Sporting, which include six goals in eight Champions League appearances last season, have seen him treble in value to £75m in the space of two years, according to the website Transfermarkt, reflecting the speed of his rise to prominence.

Skysports.com

Manchester City have confirmed the signing of AC Milan midfielder Tijjani Reijnders for an initial fee of £46.5m on a five-year contract.

The Netherlands international is Pep Guardiola’s fourth summer signing with Rayan Ait-Nouri, Marcus Bettinelli and Rayan Cherki having also joined.

Reijnders, 26, was signed in time to be eligible for this month’s Club World Cup in America and could make his debut on 18 June against Wydad FC.

“I am ecstatic to be signing for Manchester City,” Reijnders said. “City are one of the biggest teams in the world, with the best coach, world-class players and outstanding facilities.

“Under Pep Guardiola, City have won so many titles and I want to help keep that going with a lot more success in the coming years.”

The midfielder has been capped 23 times by the Netherlands but was left on the bench during Tuesday night’s 8-0 thrashing of Malta.

He scored 15 goals in 54 matches across all competitions for Milan last term and was named Serie A’s midfielder of the season.

With Kevin de Bruyne departing the club, Reijnders will strengthen the centre of the pitch for Guardiola as they look to improve on their third-placed Premier League finish last season.

City boost squad for Club World Cup
A question being asked in the lead up to the Club World Cup was how seriously teams would be taking the expanded competition.

Manchester City have emphatically answered that question by moving quickly to bolster a wounded squad that will now hope to go far in the competition in the United States.

With De Bruyne departing and a hole left in attacking midfield, City were eyeing up Bayer Leverkusen’s Florian Wirtz but decided not to pursue a deal.

Instead, they have boosted the side with the signings of midfielder Reijnders and Cherki and left-back Ait-Nouri for a total of around £108m, which is less than the reported 150m Euros (£127m) asking price for the Germany international.

All three, plus new goalkeeper Bettinelli, are available for selection for the Club World Cup with City facing Moroccan side Wydad AC in Philadelphia first on 18 June.

‘He will love working with Guardiola’
Reijnders joins City in a period which feels like a revolution rather than a renewal, and one that may require a revolving door at the Etihad over the next few months.

Attacking midfielder Cherki has already joined, while midfielders Kalvin Phillips, James McAtee and Jack Grealish have all been tipped to leave the club, along with defender Kyle Walker who spent the latter part of last season out on loan.

The squad also includes Ederson, Stefan Ortega, Nathan Ake and John Stones, whose futures have also been the topic of much media speculation.

Finding the right time to replace ageing stars like Ilkay Gundogan, Bernardo Silva and the injured Mateo Kovacic in City’s midfield will also surely be in Guardiola’s thinking.

Despite the £50m acquisition of Nico Gonzalez in February, the lack of running power and physicality in City’s engine room was exposed last season as they failed to win a major trophy for the first time in eight years.

Reijnders, who turns 27 in July, is viewed as the man to help alter that dynamic.

A powerful box-to-box midfielder, Reijnders ended last season with 10 goals and four assists in Serie A, with only one player in his position, Napoli’s Scott McTominay (16), having more goal involvements.

His performances were also considered one of the few positives in a disappointing season for Milan, who finished eighth in Serie A and missed out on European qualification.

Reijnders was ranked ninth for forward passes in Italy’s top flight last term and was fifth for through balls and carrying the ball.

He also ranked seventh overall for carries of more than 10m in Serie A last season but more significantly, Reijnders, who joined AC Milan for around £21m in 2023, is capable of doing so all over the pitch, an asset that could be crucial in Guardiola’s transitional play.

He excels at bringing out the best in attacking players around him: he was involved in an unrivalled 205 passages of play which ended in a shot being attempted in Serie A last season – the most of any player.

Reijnders also ranked second of all Serie A players for secondary chances created (49) – in other words, getting the right players into the best positions to create a chance for a team-mate.

“He will slot in very well at City, he runs a lot, he’s very willing to improve and he will love working with Guardiola,” said Italian football journalist Daniele Verri.

“He improved a lot since his first season at AC Milan.”

Bbc.com

Leroy Sane had attracted lots of attention, including from Arsenal, in recent weeks, but he is now set to snub the Gunners and Bayern Munich to join Galatasaray

Arsenal have missed out on the signing of Leroy Sane after Galatasaray jumped to the front of the queue. Sane is an in-demand commodity in the summer transfer window because his Bayern Munich contract is about to expire and Arsenal are one of the clubs who have shown an interest in signing the winger.

Sane’s contract has been a long-running drama at Bayern this year, with stories continually leaking about his future. The Bavarian giants had been confident of securing the winger’s services beyond the expiry of his deal on June 30, but that hope has now disappeared.

The 29-year-old will now skip the Club World Cup, which kicks off in the United States this weekend, in order to seal a move elsewhere. There was interest from the Premier League, Napoli, Saudi club Al-Hilal and Fenerbahce but Galatasaray have beaten them all to capture the Germany international.

L’Équipe says that Arsenal have dropped out of the race after Sane’s representatives went to Istanbul to hammer out a deal. Sky Sports Germany says he has now verbally agreed to join the Turkish side as a free agent when his Bayern deal expires on June 30.

He will sign a three-year contract with Galatasaray that is worth €15million (£12.72m) per year, according to The Athletic, which is roughly equivalent to £475,000-a-week. It is quite the coup from the club, who did the domestic double last season by winning the Turkish Super Lig and Turkish Cup.

Galatasaray are about to lose their star player from the 2024/25 season, with Victor Osimhen’s loan spell from Napoli expiring. Osimhen is being courted by a number of clubs, including those in the Premier League, ahead of a transfer this summer, and Sane will take up the mantle as the club’s biggest star.

The news will come as a blow to Arsenal, who had targeted Sane as a way of strengthening their options on the wing. The Germany international represented a cheaper alternative to Athletic Bilbao star Nico Williams and already has a relationship with Mikel Arteta from their time together at Manchester City.

Early in his Bayern spell, Sane talked up the influence Arteta had on his career. “I can just say positive things about Mikel Arteta. Since we started working together, he has helped me a lot on the pitch,” he told The Independent.

“He tried to improve my football, he told me what I did good and what I did wrong, and he tried to work on it. Next to Pep, they both really helped me and improved me, to bring me to the next level.

“Even now, at Arsenal, for me, you can see he’s doing a great job. You can see he has a concept, a way that he wants to play, a way that he wants his team to play, and obviously, it will take some time until everybody really understands it. I think he will do a great job as a [head] coach too.”

Mirror.co.uk