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Viktor Gyokeres struggled at Swansea City but is now seen as one of European football's brightest talents

Key Takeaways

Viktor Gyokeres is currently one of the hottest properties in European football thanks to his form with Sporting Lisbon, but it's fair to say that Swansea City supporters wouldn't have seen that coming a couple of years ago.

The Swedish striker joined the club on loan from Brighton in October 2020, but he struggled to make any sort of impact in SA1, and you'd struggle to find many of the Jack Army who were too disappointed when he was recalled early by the Seagulls in January 2021.

However, in the three-and-half years that have followed, the striker has enjoyed a meteoric rise, with his form at Coventry City earning him a move to Portuguese giants Sporting Lisbon.

The striker has a release clause of £85million, which works out as around €100million, according to journalist Pedro Sepulveda, and quite frankly you'd have been laughed out of Swansea had you suggested that Gyokeres would be a player of that calibre just a couple of seasons ago.

Viktor Gyokeres struggled for form at Swansea City

Swansea had Rhian Brewster on loan during the second half of the 2019/20 season, and he'd impressed, so much so that he sealed a move to Sheffield United for a reported fee of £23.5million that summer, and the Swans were back in the loan market for a striker.

With the transfer window being open later thanks to the pandemic delaying the end of the 19/20 campaign, Swansea announced Gyokeres' signing in October 2020, almost a month into the season, and the Swede was playing catch-up on his teammates from the very beginning.

Steve Cooper had some strong attacking options at his disposal with the likes of Andre Ayew, Jamal Lowe, Wayne Routledge, Liam Cullen all regulars in the Swansea team, and Gyokeres struggled for minutes.

The Swede couldn't displace the likes of Ayew and Lowe in the starting XI, and was used sparingly by Cooper, starting just one league game.

You could argue that the reason Gyokeres never reached his potential was because he wasn't given much of a chance, but he didn't show anywhere near enough to warrant more starts, particularly in a Swansea side that was competing for promotion.

In total, Gyokeres made 12 appearances for Swansea, scoring once in an FA Cup tie with Stevenage, which was ironically his last game, and he was recalled by Brighton due to his lack of minutes in South Wales.

His premature exit was met with little uproar or frustration, and it was agreed by the majority of supporters that he wasn't good enough for this level of football.

Gyokeres was actually seen as a bit of a joke figure, and put into the same category as players like Itay Shechter and Alvaro Vazquez, who had also flattered to deceive on loan in previous years.

It's fair to say that his form since leaving SA1, and his subsequent £85million asking price has been a huge shock to Swansea supporters, and you'd have had long odds on that after his disastrous loan spell in south Wales.

Vikor Gyokeres has become one of European football's hottest properties

After being recalled by Brighton, Gyokeres was loaned to Swansea's Championship rivals Coventry City for the second part of the 2020/21 campaign, and he fared slightly better, scoring three league goals, but he still didn't look like a player who'd score goals on a consistent basis.

However, Mark Robins had seen enough and signed him on a permanent basis in the summer of 2021, and the Swede quickly found his feet at Championship level.

He scored 18 goals in 47 games across all competitions during the 2021/22 season, also registering five assists, and things got even better the following season.

The 2022/23 season saw him score 22 times and register 12 assists as the Sky Blues reached the play-off final, and after losing and missing out on the chance to reach the top-flight, it looked inevitable that Gyokeres would depart, and he did.

Sporting Lisbon forked out an initial fee of just £17.5million for Gyokeres, according to Coventry Live, and it's proved an absolute bargain.

In his first season in the Portuguese capital, the former Swansea loanee scored an incredible 43 goals and registered 15 assists, taking his tally to 58 goal involvements in 50 appearances.

Any fear of Gyokeres potentially being a one-season wonder in Portugal has disappeared with him starting the 2024/25 campaign in blistering form, and it looks like just a matter of time until he moves to one of Europe's elite.

It's hard to believe that this is a player that couldn't get into Swansea's side just three-and-half years ago, and the way he's turned his career around has been admirable.