Arsenal are in advanced talks with Sporting CP over a deal to sign Viktor Gyokeres.
A move for the 27-year-old striker is not done as discussions continue over the transfer fee — but the situation is progressing towards a conclusion.
Personal terms are in place on a proposed five-year contract, the Sweden international having prioritised a switch to Arsenal for some time.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta is pushing to have the situation brought to a swift conclusion ahead of his squad’s return to pre-season training.
Gyokeres is one of Europe’s most in-demand players after scoring 54 goals in 52 games in 2024-25 as Sporting won the Portuguese league and cup double.
The Athletic reported on March 30 that Arsenal were developing a strong interest in Gyokeres, who had been admired for some time by their newly-appointed sporting director Andrea Berta.
Last month, Sporting president Frederico Varandas insisted the club had yet to receive any offers for the striker and said his side will not succumb to “blackmail and insults” as speculation over the future of the Sweden international continues.
Since joining Sporting from Coventry City in 2023, Gyokeres has scored 97 goals in 102 matches. Gyokeres moved to English football in 2017-18 when joining Brighton & Hove Albion, but made just eight appearances for the south-coast club and scored one goal.
After loan spells at St. Pauli and Swansea City, he then joined Coventry, initially on loan, for whom he scored 43 goals across two and a half seasons before his move to Portugal.
RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko has also been tracked by Arsenal for some time as they seek to add a forward to Mikel Arteta’s squad. Sesko, 22, signed a new contract with Leipzig last summer but the Bundesliga club’s failure to reach the Champions League has increased the possibility of a summer sale.
That new contract removed a €65m release clause but was signed with a mutual understanding that when the right project arrived, Sesko would be allowed to leave for a fair price.
Arsenal were without a recognised No 9 for the bulk of the second half of the 2024-25 season after serious injuries to Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus in January and February respectively. Midfielder Mikel Merino often deputised as a striker in their absence.
Arsenal have completed the signing of goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga from Chelsea and Spain international midfielder Martin Zubimendi from Real Sociedad.
‘Gyokeres offers much more than goals’
Analysis by data writer Thom Harris
There’s quite an obvious appeal to Gyokeres when flicking through the numbers; his 68 league goals since joining Sporting two summers ago is well over double that of any other player in Portugal throughout that time, a brutal finisher, able to generate freakish power on either side.
But there’s more to the Swede than just lasered shots and penalty-box poaching — Gyokeres is a prodigious runner, direct, explosive, and with the physical capacity to repeat those movements at high intensity. As we can see from his SkillCorner run profile below — comparing his off-ball work to strikers across Europe’s top seven leagues — he’s often targeting the space in-behind, or pulling wide to run the channels, happy to take a defender out wide before powering inside and getting his shot away.
The Premier League, of course, is a different proposition, and while Gyokeres clearly has the physical capabilities to battle it out with the strongest of centre-backs, he may not be afforded quite as much space to attack for a side such as Arsenal, often pass-heavy and patient in their build-up. He also isn’t prolific in the air, without a single headed goal in league football last season.
But the Swede is a handful, a guaranteed goalscorer, a relentless runner, and a ruthless No.9 who can turn half-chances into goals. If Premier League teams thought they had figured out Arteta’s Arsenal, this signing adds a new dimension.
(Top photo: Linnea Rheborg/Getty Images)
