Sporting withheld Gyokeres’ wages as he tried to force Arsenal move | OneFootball

The Swedish striker’s transfer came at significant cost, with Sporting docking his wages and Gyökeres voluntarily giving up over £1.7 million to push it through.

Photo via Arsenal.com

Viktor Gyökeres was so determined to join Arsenal this summer that he was willing to forfeit nearly £2 million in wages and bonuses to break Sporting CP’s resistance, but his financial sacrifices were not all entirely voluntary.

Sporting, furious at the striker’s refusal to report for pre-season, withheld his entire July salary, reportedly €350,000, in response to what club president Frederico Varandas saw as deliberate insubordination.

Gyökeres, 27, remained on holiday in Mallorca while his Sporting teammates returned to training. According to sources close to the negotiation, Varandas was “seething” and ordered that Gyökeres’ monthly wages be withheld in full as punishment. The player, desperate to force the transfer through, did not contest the sanction.

Photo by Eddie Keogh/Getty Images

This was not the only financial blow the Swedish forward accepted. As talks between Arsenal and Sporting stalled over the Portuguese club’s insistence on a €100 million release clause, Gyökeres took the extraordinary step of voluntarily waiving around €2 million in salary or performance bonuses still owed to him under his contract.

The move was intended to facilitate a compromise and accelerate the deal.

While neither club officially confirmed the figures, the Portuguese and English press widely reported the forfeited payments. The gesture, interpreted as a clear indication of Gyökeres’ commitment to joining Arsenal, ultimately helped bridge the gap. Arsenal eventually paid a €65.8 million fixed fee, rising to €75 million with add-ons, far short of the original clause but enough to satisfy Sporting’s adjusted valuation.

Photo by Eddie Keogh/Getty Images

In the end, the lost wages were offset by Gyökeres’ new contract at Arsenal, believed to be worth more than double his Lisbon salary over a five-year deal.

Sporting have maintained their position publicly, insisting that no promises were made about a reduced exit fee. But the tension was clear, and by the end of July the relationship between player and club was beyond repair.

Now wearing the number 14 shirt at Arsenal, once owned by Thierry Henry, Gyökeres has taken on enormous expectation.

But whatever he does in red and white, the financial and personal lengths he went to in order to arrive speak volumes. He did not simply wait for the transfer to happen. He did what he could to make it happen.