€100m striker admits he wants Arsenal move

Arsenal did not land the centre-forward they dreamed of in the summer transfer window, but had they managed, it is likely that Viktor Gyokeres would have been that man.

FootballTransfers exclusively revealed in the spring that the Sporting CP hitman was at the top of Mikel Arteta’s shortlist of No.9s.

No deal was ultimately done, with Gyokeres, Napoli’s Victor Osimhen or RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko because the asking price of the players’ respective clubs was too big.

Gyokeres: I want to play at the highest level

Sporting were chasing upwards of €100 million from Arsenal for the 26-year-old Sweden striker, which is something that Gyokeres admits frustrated him as he wants to move to the Premier League.

“Sporting wanted most of the starting players to stay and held us tight. That’s how it turned out, but I enjoy Sporting very much, so for me it was no problem to stay,” he told Sport Bladet.

“Of course you want to play at the highest level. The €100m exit clause was probably a bit too much because nothing came of it. Of course it’s a lot of money. But we’ll see what happens next window…

READ MORE: Premier League summer transfers 2024: All the Done Deals

“Nothing happened and it feels like I had a pretty good season. So yes, that’s probably why there was simply no move. But that’s what Sporting thinks I’m worth, and then you have to respect that.

“I enjoy myself very much in Sporting and can’t complain about anything, so it’s absolutely no problem for me to stay. Of course, you aim to test other leagues and a higher level, but I have no stress.”

Gyokeres, who has an Estimated Transfer Value (ETV) of €25.6m, has made an express start to the season in Portugal, netting seven goals across four Liga Portugal matches to date.