Viktor Gyökeres made his Premier League debut for Arsenal at Old Trafford on the opening day of the 2025–26 campaign. But had his former employers Sporting CP gotten their way, the prolific Swede would have been lining up for Manchester United rather than the visitors.
Despite presenting a more inviting transfer package than their Premier League rivals, it was the player himself who forced through a move to Arsenal rather than the Red Devils.
The process of extracting Gyökeres from Lisbon was a draining one for the Gunners. Amid wild accusations of blackmail, betrayal and a playing strike, Arsenal eventually managed to seal a deal worth an initial €63.5 million (£55.3 million, $73.7 million) with a further €10 million available in performance-related add-ons.
This saga got so messy because Gyökeres and his team of advisors believed they had already agreed upon a fee which Sporting would accept before the transfer window opened.
The Lisbon club were also going through a period of recruitment transition after their sporting director Hugo Viana joined Manchester City, leaving the outspoken club president Frederico Varandas to publicly declare that no such gentleman’s agreement existed.
One of Gyökeres’s representatives, Jonathan Chalkias, recently revealed that Sporting were so insistent on controlling their striker’s next destination that they “concluded a deal with Manchester United behind our backs.” Chalkias claimed that the team coached by Ruben Amorim, Gyökeres’s former Sporting boss, “offered a higher transfer fee.”
Fabrizio Romano supported the claim that negotiations between United and Sporting were “closed,” revealing that while the fallen Premier League giants were offering a lower fixed fee than the €63.5 million which Arsenal paid, they had agreed upon “better bonuses.”
Naturally, this superior financial package and the added benefit of jabbing a finger in the eye of Gyökeres’s agents was doubly appealing to Sporting. Romano claims the reigning Portuguese champions were “pushing like crazy” to send their No. 9 to Old Trafford only to be met with a firm rebuttal from Gyökeres.
For the rampant talisman, his affection for the Gunners is thought to have been the driving factor behind the move. In order to facilitate their client’s demands, Gyökeres’s agents had to waive their standard 10% signing-on fee. As Chalkias pointedly noted: “It’s a lot of money. Maybe Viktor should respond to that some day.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as How Man Utd Lost Viktor Gyokeres to Arsenal Despite ‘Agreeing’ Transfer.