Sporting striker Viktor Gyokeres available for cut-price £63m

Premier League clubs have been put on high alert after it emerged that Sporting Lisbon striker Viktor Gyokeres is available for just £63 million.

Gyokeres, 26, is among the most sought-after forwards after two seasons under Ruben Amorim, who starts at Manchester United next week following his final Sporting match against Braga on Sunday.

United, Chelsea and Arsenal have previously been linked with the former Coventry City player, who has scored 23 goals in 17 matches this season, although goalkeeper Andre Onana claimed on Wednesday the current Old Trafford squad is already strong enough.

Gyokeres has a €100 million (£83 million) release clause in his contract with Sporting, which expires in 2028. But it is understood the Sweden international will be allowed to leave for a lower fee in the summer.

‘I’ve just made peace with the Sporting fans’

Sporting may accept a bid of around £63 million for Gyokeres, who scored a hat-trick in the 4-1 win over Manchester City on Tuesday evening. It would still mark a huge profit on the £20 million paid to Coventry at the start of last season.

“I’ve just made peace with the Sporting fans, so I’m not even going to make a joke about it,” Amorim said after the win over City when asked about the possibility of taking Gyokeres with him to Old Trafford.

“Gyokeres is a Sporting player, which is a great club, he did a lot for the club, he was in the second division [of English football]. He just has to stay and finish the season at the club.”

Gyokeres had a spell at Brighton earlier in his career and also went on loan at Swansea City.

Amorim also said he will ignore media coverage of his United career when he starts next week. “I’m not going to read anything for six months,” he said.

“The only way to work well is to work and focus on the team.”

Speculation over whether the squad assembled by Erik ten Hag contains the personnel to fit the Portuguese coach’s preferred 3-4-3 system has intensified in recent days, fuelled as much by United’s stuttering form as Sporting Lisbon’s electrifying performances.

‘We have big players and they will step up’

But Onana launched a pre-emptive case for the defence ahead of the visit of PAOK to Old Trafford in the Europa League on Thursday night and Amorim’s arrival on November 11, insisting the squad he inherits has enough quality to adapt.

Asked for his thoughts on Sporting’s win over Manchester City, Onana said: “It was a great victory by the way and a different system. But my team-mates, we are all pragmatic, everyone here is capable of playing in each system so I don’t think it will be an issue for us. We have big players and they will step up.”

Amorim has favoured a 3-4-3 system throughout his managerial career with highly mobile wing-backs, two sixes, two 10s and a central striker.

Assuming he adopts a similar approach in the Premier League the question as to whether he has the players at his disposal within United’s dressing room will be much debated.

With Leny Yoro nearing a return following a broken foot, Matthijs de Ligt/Harry Maguire and Lisandro Martinez appearing to fit the bill at the back, and Manuel Ugarte and Kobbie Mainoo ticking boxes in the middle, the identity of the wing-backs is one issue.

While up front there will be understandable speculation about personnel changes given that only Southampton (seven) and Crystal Palace (eight) have scored fewer goals in the league than United (nine) and only Alejandro Garnacho, with two, has scored more than one goal in the top flight.

Compare that with the goals that have flowed from Gyokeres at Sporting with 16 in 10 league matches and five in four in the Champions League.

It is also thought Sporting’s Geovany Quenda is a talent Amorim would love to work with in the future, with the 17-year-old extensively scouted by Premier League clubs.