As the January transfer window draws ever closer, and with Manchester United set for a new era under new manager Ruben Amorim, attention is turning towards who could be making the move to Old Trafford.
As such, talk of a move for Sporting CP’s prolific forward Viktor Gyokeres continues to dominate the agenda and has been heightened in recent weeks given his ties to Amorim. While United’s forwards Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee have managed just three goals between them this season, Gyokeres’ record in Portugal is extraordinary.
Playing under Amorim at Sporting, the Swedish international has scored 66 goals in 68 games since joining the Portuguese champions, including 23 in 18 appearances this term. He moved to Lisbon from Coventry City, after a prolific 2022/23 season in the Championship guided the Sky Blues to the play-off final and a penalty shootout away from promotion to the Premier League.
READ MORE: Ruben Amorim’s £16m Manchester United challenge has suddenly got a little bit easier
READ MORE: ‘Heard nothing’ – Manchester United surprise package in the dark over his Old Trafford future
Despite interest from all over Europe, Amorim’s sales pitch and ability to develop players convinced Gyokeres and his agent Hasan Cetinkaya to make the move to Portugal. Cetinkaya has described Amorim as a ‘coach on another level’ and if United do make their move, amid stiff competition from some of Europe’s top clubs, then they have a trump card now the Portuguese manager is in the Old Trafford hotseat.
His hat-trick against rivals Man City has already endeared him to the red half of Manchester but the question remains whether he can translate his goalscoring record at Championship level and in the Portuguese Primeira Liga to the Premier League.
To answer that, you have to understand the journey Gyokeres has already been on to reach this point. Jake Bidwell played alongside the 26-year-old at both Swansea City and Coventry City and has seen his development first hand.
Gyokeres joined Brighton as a youngster and failed to establish himself during a loan spell at the Swans, who were at the top end of the Championship table with both Andre Ayew and Jamal Lowe scoring goals regularly up front during the 2020/21 season.
But when Bidwell made the move to Coventry in January 2022, and joined up with Gyokeres for a second time, he noticed a clear difference in the player he had played alongside in South Wales.
“If you’d told me then he would have been banging in goals in the Champions League in three or four years’ time I would have found it hard to believe,” Bidwell told the Manchester Evening News when asked about their time playing together at Swansea.
“He joined Coventry on loan and then signed for them permanently. All the lads have said when he came back in the summer after signing permanently, he was a different animal.
“He had been working out in the gym all summer, and it was almost like he was a different man. He was still young at the time and growing into himself but the main thing was his belief grew from there.
“With the way he plays as well, with his aggression, the two (qualities) go hand in hand with how well he has done. He all of a sudden realised how quick and strong he was and had the confidence to use it and mixed with the aggression, it’s made him pretty unstoppable.”
Bidwell described Gyokeres as a ‘great asset off the pitch’ at Coventry and said he was a popular member of the dressing room. The aggression and belief he possesses makes him a perfect fit for a United side desperately in need of an injection of both.
And Bidwell believes the way he has taken the step up to the Portuguese top flight and the Champions League in his stride shows he would be able to shoulder the pressure of playing for a club the size of United.
“Even if he doesn’t score, he isn’t the type of striker who isn’t contributing much to the game. The way that he plays he is just a constant threat,” Bidwell added. “He can go in behind, he can hold the ball up, he’s a nightmare for centre-halves to play against because he is up and at you and all-action all the time.
“He has improved his game in every aspect since I first seen him but the main thing that sets him apart is his aggression. Nothing seems to affect him and he has developed a bulletproof mentality. Sporting is a massive club in Portugal and obviously the level is different but he has already shown he can play for a big club on a massive stage like the Champions League.
“There is always an unknown but knowing Viktor, he fully believed he was going to handle himself. When he was coming towards the end of his time at Coventry, there was no way he wasn’t going to succeed because his belief was that strong.
“That is something you need to be a top player and he has shown he has got that and made the step up look easy really. He has become the main man for his country, too, alongside Alexander Isak and he just seems to take everything in his stride. I don’t see why that wouldn’t continue [if he joined Manchester United].”
Gyokeres has a £100million release clause in his contract and any move would likely come next summer, rather than in the January transfer window. But, if Bidwell’s assertion of his former team-mate is correct, it would be worth every penny to sign a proven goalscorer who Amorim trusts, and who could transform United’s fortunes.
