‘Losing 5-1 to Arsenal made me want to join’ – Gyokeres seals £64m move

After his Sporting side lost 5-1 to Arsenal last season, Viktor Gyokeres claims he made the decision to leave.

The 27-year-old Sweden international has signed for a five-year contract worth up to 73 million euros (£64 million).

Due to ongoing negotiations between the clubs over additional payments, the final agreement requiring a 63 million euro initial fee plus 10 million euros in add-ons was postponed.

Gyokeres played for Mikel Arteta’s team in the amateur team’s demolished side in November’s elite competition.

Gyokeres remarked, “I just thought it was the right club for me.” What I’ve seen in the past years, how they’ve been playing football, and what I heard from Mikel and]sporting director] Andrea Berta.

“When I played against Arsenal last year, I really felt like it was a very strong and challenging team.

“The history of the club, the large fan base, and that made me choose Arsenal,” I said.

“Viktor has a lot of qualities. He has incredible goalscoring numbers at the club and international levels, according to Gunners boss Arteta.

He is a constant threat thanks to his intelligent movement in the box and high conversion rates for chances into goals.

We’re looking forward to starting working with Viktor because we’re excited about what he brings to our squad.

After reaching an impasse in their bid to sign Benjamin Sesko from RB Leipzig, Arteta’s side turned their attention to Gyokeres, according to BBC Sport’s report at the beginning of the month.

Andrea Berta, the Portuguese club’s sporting director, traveled to Lisbon to take the lead in the negotiations.

After being linked with Manchester United earlier this summer, Gyokeres’ long-running saga comes to an end with the deal.

In his two years in Portugal, the former Brighton and Coventry striker helped Sporting win two league titles and contributed 26 assists.

Gyokeres makes his comeback to England after a season where he scored 54 goals in 52 games, including the final of the Portuguese Cup with a 3-1 win over Benfica.

In the Champions League last year, the Swede also scored six goals, including a hat-trick against Manchester City.

Gyokeres made his professional debut for IF Brommapojkarna in 2015 in his native Sweden.

He had already signed a two-year deal with the Seagulls and was already in touch with Brighton’s newly promoted Premier League team by September 2017. He signed a two-year deal with the Seagulls and became a member there in January.

He made his Sweden debut in January 2019 despite being defeated by Finland while still playing for Brighton’s youth team. Three days later, he scored with Iceland to draw 2-2. His first international goal came in.

He was loaned to German second-tier St Pauli for the 2019-20 season, but he still struggled for opportunities with Brighton.

He started to succeed at the Hamburg club, scoring seven goals in 26 appearances.

Gyokeres found the net in a 4–0 League Cup victory over Portsmouth a month later than Gyokeres’ only goal for Brighton, which came on the same day.

However, Swansea City’s championship side loaned him weeks later.

Before being called back by Brighton and loaned to Coventry City in January 2021, he played 12 games and managed one goal for the Swans during their three-month spell in Wales.

At the age of 23, Gyokeres made his move permanent by scoring three goals in the second half of the season, including his first league goal in English football.

With a total of 116 appearances, he would become one of the Championship’s most prolific strikers in the following two seasons.

As Coventry advanced to the play-off final but was overtaken by Luton Town on penalties, he was named in the championship team of the year in 2022-23.