Chelsea may not be able to negotiate a deal with Sporting Lisbon for their player Viktor Gyokeres as they will have to pay the full release clause to get him. There are reports that Chelsea are interested in Gyokeres and may make a big deal for the 25-year-old attacker. Sporting Lisbon manager Ruben Amorim recently talked about Chelsea’s interest in Viktor Gyokeres.
Chelsea after Viktor Gyokeres
Chelsea are often talked about in relation to expensive player transfers, and this connection has become stronger in the 18 months under Clearlake Capital and Todd Boehly’s ownership. During this time, they spent over £100 million twice on Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo in consecutive transfer windows. The total spending has reached £1 billion since the summer of 2022, which is seen as a burden for the club. However, Chelsea don’t plan to have a similarly busy transfer window like last year this month. While there is interest in getting a top-notch forward, the club also wants to take a break, reassess things, and bring some stability after a very hectic summer.
Reports said Chelsea were interested in Gyokeres to help their strikers Jackson and Armando Broja, but it seems like there won’t be a move soon. Gyokeres joined Sporting from Coventry City for about £17 million in the summer. Coventry City might get up to 15% of any future transfer fee for the 25-year-old. Even though this was a record fee for Sporting, it’s much less than what Chelsea paid for Jackson.
Porto manager Ruben Amorim recently played down Gyokeres to Chelsea rumours.
“Obviously, I was informed of the news. As soon as they said it was 85, I thought: ‘that’s not enough. It’s only 100. I’m not worried.’ Obviously, every club has to sell. What they’ve said is that, in the middle of the season, they’ll only leave for the clause. As we can’t control that, I feel quite calm because we can’t do anything about it,” Amorim said.
“Of course, we have to look at Viktor’s impact on the team, we’d have to change a lot of things, hence the board’s endeavour to say that players we can’t afford to lose will only leave for the fee. I haven’t spoken to Viana about that. Nowadays, there are obviously clubs that can easily pay 100, but we don’t control that,” he added.
Ruben Amorim plays down rumours of Chelsea's €85m bid for Gyökeres: "Obviously, I was informed of the news. As soon as they said it was 85, I thought: ‘that’s not enough’. It’s only 100. I’m not worried.” Obviously, every club has to sell. What they’ve said is that, in the… pic.twitter.com/2KygUUslVW
— Vince™ (@Blue_Footy) January 17, 2024
If Sporting are willing to talk about a deal, that makes things a bit different. However, for nearly £90 million, Chelsea should consider searching for other options.
