Gyokeres comments make mockery of £80m January chat

Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim has reportedly told the club ‘he cannot wait until the summer’ to sign Viktor Gyokeres, but the man himself has dismissed any fanciful talk of a January switch.

Gyokeres exclusively told A Bola – who made him their first foreign Person of the Year – that he was determined to end the season with Sporting and win more trophies.

He was the top scorer across Europe’s top leagues in 2024 – beating Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe and Harry Kane among others – and is obviously a summer target for big clubs across Europe.

Would he hop from a second championship fight with Sporting, who are level at the top of their league, for a team who are 14th in the Premier League table? It seems unlikely.

“Of course we want to win the championship twice, that’s our goal. But we’re in other competitions too and we want to go as far as possible in all of them. We’re in all the competitions and we want to continue like this,” he told A Bola.

“What are my wishes for 2025? We’ll see, but we need to win the games and see how far we can go..”

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They do admit that he was ‘elusive’ when asked about his future beyond this season, but say it is ‘unlikely’ that Gyokeres will leave in January, when his price tag remains north of £80m.

There is also the small matter of Manchester United having nothing to spend in January, when there is ‘no budget’ for additions despite their terrible form.

That does suggest that the Daily Star’s back-page exclusive that Ruben Amorim is demanding Gyokeres now is little more than an attempt to fill a back page after a quiet bank holiday.

Amorim himself seems to be under no illusions about his January issues, saying: “We don’t have that possibility in January. You know the situation better than I [do]. It’s not the case I am not arriving here and I can spend a lot of money, changing all the team. You know the situation so it’s not a point to talk about it.”

He also made it clear when he left Sporting that he would not return for any of their players mid-season, and that was before United were plunged into a possible relegation battle.

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