If he isn’t the best number 9 in the world, he is certainly the fittest at the moment: Viktor Gyökeres is simply unstoppable and the poker he gave to Azerbaijan who led Sweden to a triumphant victory in their Nations League group proves it. At 26 he has reached unimaginable levels, at Sporting CP they are rubbing their hands and also in the Swedish federation, which dreams of reaching heights with him that have not been reached even with Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
GYÖKERES’ NUMBERS
Scary, so far. 23 in 18 matches for Sporting CP, with an average of a goal every 66 minutes. In the league alone we have 16 goals in 11 games. The record for goals in a season belongs to Héctor Yazalde, who in 1973/74 closed on 46 goals and the projection based on Gyökeres’ performance would lead the Swede to break this record. In the Champions League we have 5 goals in 4 games, 3 of which were scored under the eyes of Erling Haaland and disintegrating Manchester City. And then the numbers against Sweden: since September they have scored 9 goals in 6 matches. Overall his score is 15 goals in 26 games.
THE GYÖKERES ROUTE
Gyökeres is not predestined, his path is more tortuous. The Swedish national team sees her for the first time in January 2019 in two friendly matches, then two years and eight months off to return as a walk-on to add two tokens, in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers. She has been on a permanent basis since June 2022, when she a player from Coventry, English second division. Brighton, who bought him in 2018, don’t believe it too much. The loans at St. Pauli and Swansea are so-so, at Coventry on the other hand they see what others don’t even glimpse. They bought him out after a year’s loan for 1.2 million and sold him for 24 the following year, to Sporting CP. For half a million it is not the most expensive transfer in the history of the Portuguese (Ugarte wins) but the figure seems exaggerated for a Championship player. Instead it is the happiest investment in the club’s history.
THE GYÖKERES CLAUSE
The meeting with Ruben Amorim was fundamental for his explosion: he is the finisher of the offensive and collective game of the Leoeswins the Portuguese championship and also takes home the title of top scorer. Sporting CP had seen him long, who bought him in July, securing him with a 100 million euro clause. A sum sufficient to drive away any club in this transfer window, but which is unlikely to be enough next June to keep Gyökeres in Lisbon. A move to the Premier League is possible, with the English clubs having to apologize for the incredible sleep in recent years: despite having a great talent playing in the Championship under their eyes, they preferred to divert their money elsewhere. Logic suggests that he should go to Manchester United, where he would meet his mentor Amorim, who recently took over as manager. red devils. He denies it for now, but it is unthinkable to see him again in Portugal next season.