Man Utd's sporting director sold £84m Viktor Gyokeres for just £1m

Viktor Gyokeres has been one of the headline-makers of the week in European football. The Swedish striker of Sporting Portugal stole the show in Sporting Lisbon's 4-1 win over Manchester City at the Jose Alvalade and thus became the third player to score a hat-trick against the Sky Blues in the top club competition.

Of course, the departure of manager Ruben Amorim to Manchester United has sparked all sorts of rumours about the Scandinavian, who knows English football from his past spells at Brighton, Swansea and Coventry. As Gyokeres has performed remarkably well for Sporting Portugal since his arrival, his name has gained momentum on the islands and it has emerged that the current United sporting director let him leave Brighton for a very low fee at the time.

Dan Ashworth, who has been the Red Devils sporting director since the start of the year, did not object to Gyokeres leaving for Coventry in July 2021. The historic club paid approximately 1.2 million euros for a player who at the time had no place in Brighton's first team and who had sailed from loan to loan since his arrival in English football in 2017.

 

July 9, 2021

After excelling at Coventry, his current club paid 20 million euros to sign him in 2023 and he has scored 66 goals, along with 19 assists, in 67 appearances in Lisbon. Now, Gyokeres' price tag is far higher than what Ashworth agreed to let him leave three years ago and in England they blame Manchester United's poor fortunes on the transfer decisions their board has been making in recent times.

Gyokeres' termination clause is €100m and, despite his name having been linked with Arsenal previously, the arrival of Ruben Amorim at Manchester United could be a good reason for the Red Devils to add the Swede to their shortlist. However, after the Manchester City game, the Portuguese coach did not want to talk about the possibility out of respect for what is still his fans.

"I don't want to talk about Gyokeres because it will cause me problems. This is my city and this is my country. It would cause me problems...’ explained Ruben Amorim of a possible signing of the striker that will undoubtedly be on the table in the next transfer windows.