Arsenal have been told they will be able to sign top striker target Viktor Gyokeres from Sporting CP this summer on one condition, according to reports.
The Gunners have had a disappointing season in the Premier League by their standards with Mikel Arteta’s side likely to finish second after Liverpool won the Premier League title last month.
After their 2-2 draw against Liverpool over the weekend, Arsenal have now won exactly half of their Premier League matches this season with the Reds winning seven more games.
Arsenal have also scored 17 fewer goals than the champions with Arteta’s team struggling for goals in the second half of the season in particular.
The Gunners lost both Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz to season-ending injuries at the beginning of the year and they failed to bring in any reinforcements in that area in January.
Mikel Merino playing as a makeshift striker has only highlighted their need to bring in a new centre-forward in the summer transfer window.
Arteta wants Arsenal competing on all fronts next term and he and new sporting director Andrea Berta are reportedly interested in signing Sporting CP striker Gyokeres to help them achieve their goals.
A recent report on Sky Sports insisted that Berta has been ‘very impressed with’ Gyokeres and Sporting are apparently ‘willing to let him go’ for around €80m (£67.3m).
While The Athletic‘s David Ornstein revealed earlier this week that Arsenal are interested, he said: “Viktor Gyokeres remains in the mix for Arsenal. He is a player that Arsenal’s sporting director Andrea Berta really likes.
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“He is probably the best value for money option out there but the time is ticking and other interest is building. We know that Ruben Amorim at Manchester United likes him so let’s see if Arsenal move on that sooner, rather than later.”
And now the Daily Mirror insists that Arsenal have been ‘told’ that Gyokeres is ‘all theirs’ as long as they cough up £60m for the Sweden international this summer.
It is understood that the Portuguese side ‘are willing to do business and they have already made enquiries as they look to get business done early’.
Gyokeres will command huge wages of around £200k a week – but Arsenal are likely to see that salary as worth it if he can replicate his 95 goals in 100 matches during his Sporting career.
Former Arsenal defender William Gallas has urged the Gunners to pull out all the stops for Newcastle United striker Alexander Isak over Gyokeres.
Gallas said last month: “You can be good in your club, in your league, but when you go to the Premier League, it’s different. Nobody can deny that Gyokeres hasn’t been one of the hottest strikers in Europe for two seasons now, but he’s been doing it in Portugal.
“The argument would be that he has scored goals in the Champions League, but there are still doubts about his pedigree in the Premier League. Isak, at Newcastle, he was not good at the beginning. He was a good player, but he didn’t have that performance level that he has right now.
“You need to know if you can give your players time to adapt. But sometimes you can’t wait, you need a striker who can score right away. That would be my concern about Gyokeres. I would go for Isak, because he is already proven in the Premier League. He’s already posing problems and already knows how to deal with the opponents.”
