Sporting chief Frederico Varandas has hit out at Viktor Gyokeres's agent and warned interested clubs that €70m will not be enough to land the striker.
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Gyokeres angry after Sporting break transfer promiseClub president hits back and slams player's agentMan Utd sent clear warning over his priceFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?
Varandas has issued an angry statement in response to reports Gyokeres is "furious" with Sporting and willing to go on strike after the club went back on a promise that he could leave for £60 million (€70m) in the summer transfer window. The Sporting president has hit out at Gyokeres' agent and made it clear what interested clubs, chiefly Manchester United, will have to spend if they want to sign the striker.
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As reported by , Varandas said: "Sporting will not demand the release clause, but they should know me better by now: threats, blackmail, insults, they don't work with me. I can guarantee one thing: Viktor Gyokeres will not leave for €60m + €10m. He will not leave because I never allowed it, and with this game that the agent is playing, the situation will only get worse. Today is the 11th, what time is it? 11:45? Until today, Sporting has not had a single offer for Viktor Gyokeres, neither today nor last summer. He is a fantastic professional, has zero offers and a three-year contract."
TELL ME MORE
Varandas also offered his version of events about an agreed price for Gyokeres to leave: "In that meeting, the agent wanted to anchor the departure to a value. I said this sentence: 'It's not worth setting a value because I don't know what will happen during the year, if he will get injured, I don't know if he will have a disappointing season, so it's not worth setting a value. I don't know if it will be 40, 60 or 80, it will depend on the performance. What I can guarantee is that I will not demand 100 million, period.'
"From then on, I never spoke to the agent again, I never spoke to the player about leaving or values, 10 months have passed and now I see the agent in the press spewing information here and there. But I want to make it clear: Sporting has good sense and its word and the chairman of Sporting said two things: that he would not demand a clause and that he would adjust the value to Viktor's performance. What was it? 63 goals, 17 assists, runner-up in the Golden Boot, eight games in the Champions League, six goals, fantastic. Surely one of the best to ever step foot on the pitch of Portuguese football. And even so, Sporting will not demand a termination clause."
AFPTHE BIGGER PICTURE
Gyokeres enjoyed a prolific season with Sporting and scored 54 goals across all competitions as his side won the title. His performances have attracted plenty of interest from clubs in the Premier League, and Manchester United have reportedly made an initial approach, but any interested teams will have to spend big to land the 27-year-old this summer.