Latest on Arsenal pursuit of striker they contacted 2 months ago | OneFootball

Arsenal links to Sporting CP’s Viktor Gyokeres have been played down, but the Gunners did make contact with the striker towards the end of the 2023/24 campaign.

Sporting Lisbon’s Viktor Gyokeres celebrates scoring during the Portuguese League football match between Rio Ave FC and Sporting CP at the Rio Ave FC – Dos Arcos stadium in Vila do Conde, on February 25, 2024. (Photo by MIGUEL RIOPA/AFP via Getty Images)

Recent reports from a local Portuguese media outlet suggested Viktor Gyokeres was very close to an Arsenal move, possibly even by the end of the month. Yet Fabrizio Romano isn’t so sure.

Romano reports in his podcast The Debrief that the rumours from Portugal that a deal is almost done are false.

The journalist claims Arsenal did make contact on the player’s side in April or May, and they’ve been made aware of the conditions of a potential transfer, but there’s nothing imminent or close.

Arsenal reportedly haven’t decided what they want to do with regards to a striker, with no priority target yet. But the money involved for Gyokeres makes that deal unlikely unless Sporting are flexible on the structure of the transfer.

Sporting’s Viktor Gyokeres (L) vies with Young Boys’ Aurele Amenda during the UEFA Europa League last 32 second leg football match between Sporting CP and BSC Young Boys at the Jose Alvalade stadium in Lisbon on February 22, 2024. (Photo by PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA/AFP via Getty Images)

Leonino had claimed that sources close to the process reported that negotiations between Sporting and Arsenal were at an advanced stage. They wrote that financial details were being finalised, and a deal could be done by the end of the month.

But the reports were never picked up by the mainstream Portuguese media, let alone any English media outlets.

Gyokeres had been pretty heavily linked with Arsenal earlier this year, but those links started to die down after reports from Sweden suggested that several English sources had independently denied the interest.

Sporting Lisbon’s Viktor Gyokeres celebrates at the end of the Portuguese League football match between Sporting CP and Gil Vicente FC at the Alvalade stadium in Lisbon on December 4, 2023. (Photo by CARLOS COSTA/AFP via Getty Images)

There were claims that Kai Havertz’s form had pushed the pursuit of an experienced centre-forward down Arsenal’s list of summer priorities later in the month, and the Gyokeres story seemed to disappear.

Gyokeres scored 43 goals and assisted 15 in 50 appearances for Sporting CP last season.