Arsenal transfer drama: Viktor Gyokeres’ agent reveals what really happened

Viktor Gyokeres’ agent has broken his silence on the dispute that dogged the Sweden international’s last days at Sporting CP.

Gyokeres finally completed a move to Arsenal last week in a €63.5 million deal. This came after a dramatic saga that saw the striker refuse to train with the Lisbon club.

Sporting hit out at the attitude of the 27-year-old’s camp prior to the move as the situation became increasingly charged.

The player’s representatives felt that the Portuguese side went back on a promise made to them a year ago by former sporting director Hugo Viana to allow a cheap summer transfer.

“If he was still at Sporting, the deal would have been done in an hour,” Jonathan Chalkias, one of Gyokeres’ agents, told WTV (via A Bola).

“Everything was written, but we didn’t have time to start a legal battle. I don’t understand how a player who scored so many goals and won three trophies didn’t deserve more respect.”

Gyokeres did not even train during pre-season with the club, but while this was widely attributed him refusing to work with his former club, his agent has a different spin on it. He claims that it was Sporting’s idea to give the striker “extra vacation”.

Gyokeres completely committed to Arsenal

Chalkias, meanwhile, claims that Sporting tried to engineer a deal of their own with Real Madrid or Manchester United and says that the willingness of the agents to forego commission worth €6.5m were critical to the transfer becoming reality.

“The sacrifices we made were probably the turning point in getting the deal done,” he says.

“Sporting offered him to Real Madrid, made headlines with Real Madrid and even Man United, but from day one, there was a commitment to Arsenal.

“Viktor always trusted Hasan Cetinkaya’s project: they agreed to move to a league with less exposure, like Portugal, to win titles and return to the Premier League.”

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