Arsenal are to initiate talks with the agent of Swedish superstar Viktor Gyokeres, with the Sporting striker's agent a key ally of manager Mikel Arteta.
The Gunners are currently without a recognised no.9 of any kind following a hamstring injury to Kai Havertz and an ACL injury to Gabriel Jesus. Spanish midfielder Mikel Merino has been moonlighting up front to mixed success, as Arteta looks to finish the season strongly.
It's widely believed that Arsenal will spend a significant portion of their summer budget on a new attacker to spearhead their frontline, however, with Gyokeres now leading the pack of options available.
Arsenal to enter talks with Viktor Gyokeres
Gyokeres has been a unanimous hit since his leftfield move to Portugal from Coventry City in 2023.
The 26-year-old, ranked at no.6 in FourFourTwo's list of the best strikers in the world right now, has hit 57 league goals in 58 appearances in Lisbon to become one of the hottest properties in Europe and in the midst of his breakout season in the Midlands, the player himself admitted to FourFourTwo that he would like to play in the Premier League one day.
You think about it sometimes because obviously you want to play at as high a level as possible and in the best league, he said, before admitting his focus was with the Sky Blues.
Now, however, Portuguese outlet Correio da Manha has claimed in a report via SportWitness that a formal meeting has been scheduled between Arsenal and Gyokeres agent Hasan Cetinkaya, who is a friend of Arteta.
The newspaper reaffirms that the no.9 has assurances from Sporting to leave for 75m, following claims from the BBC that Sporting will accept as little as �62m for the star.
Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano has even relayed claims from Sporting president Frederico Varandas that [Gyokeres] will go, should a club match the valuation, suggesting a deal might not be too complicated.
FourFourTwo understands that while Gyokeres is on the shortlist for the North Londoners, Alexander Isak remains the priority, with Benjamin Sesko of RB Leipzig a serious option, too.
Talks with backup options are commonplace in the transfer market and though Arsenal have shown interest in Gyokeres, there isn't a concrete desire to sign him over higher priority names.
Gyokeres is worth 75m, as per Transfermarkt.
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