Who is Viktor Gyokeres? Meet Sporting Lisbon’s Swedish striker who could be football’s next $100 million-plus player

Since his determination to Portugal, helium has gone connected to people 66 goals successful 68 appearances — including 23 goals successful 18 this word — and helped Sporting triumph the rubric past season.

To enactment the 26-year-old forward’s nine statistic into context, this play helium is outscoring Robert Lewandowski (19 successful 17 games), Harry Kane (17 successful 16) and Erling Haaland (15 successful 16). Gyokeres stretches defences with his nonstop runs and is deadly successful beforehand of extremity with rasping shots that find the country of the nett with unerring precision.

His awesome numbers person sparked speculation helium volition soon beryllium connected the determination again with clubs similar Manchester United, City, Arsenal, Barcelona, and Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) each reportedly interested.

Links to United and City are understandable. Gyokeres’ erstwhile manager astatine Lisbon, Ruben Amorim, has conscionable taken implicit astatine United. Hugo Viana, Lisbon’s outgoing sporting manager who signed him from Coventry City, is connected his mode to City.

Dalibor Savic coached Gyokeres astatine the younker level for Brommapojkarna, a Swedish nine with a estimation for processing immoderate of the country’s best-emerging players. “He was a precocious developer due to the fact that helium was not the champion striker oregon the champion subordinate successful Brommapojkarna astatine property 16, 17, 18, 19. We had amended players successful the academy and truthful on,” Savic, who was caput manager of the club’s Under-19 and U-21 teams, told The Associated Press.

Gyokeres’ archetypal accidental successful England came successful 2018 erstwhile helium joined Brighton — a squad that specializes successful processing players and past selling them connected for immense profit. Not connected this occasion. Gyokeres was loaned archetypal to St Pauli successful Germany, past Swansea and yet Coventry, wherever helium sealed a imperishable determination for astir $1 cardinal successful 2021. His numbers astatine Brighton and during his indebtedness spells didn’t constituent to the heights helium has gone connected to achieve, with 7 goals successful 28 games for St Pauli his champion return.

Gyokeres went connected to people 40 goals successful 97 games and instrumentality Coventry to the brink of promotion to the Premier League earlier it yet mislaid a playoff final. That paved the mode for his determination to Lisbon wherever his performances person been intolerable to ignore.

Proving helium tin people consistently astatine an adjacent higher level volition beryllium the adjacent situation if Gyokeres follows successful the footsteps of different apical Swedish strikers similar Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrik Larsson and moves to 1 of Europe’s starring clubs.

With AP inputs