Just four games into the new Liga Portugal season, the Swedish striker has found the back of the net seven times for Sporting, registering one assist for good measure too. Not even Erling Haaland has notched as many goal contributions to start the 2024/25 campaign.
At a time when many of Europe’s biggest clubs are looking for an elite level centre forward, Gyökeres stands out. He has the technical and physical attributes to reach the top. The 26-year-old was playing in the Championship as recently as last year, but his upward trajectory has been a steep one. With every goal Gyökeres scores, his reputation grows.
The numbers speak for themselves. Gyökeres is leading Liga Portugal for shots on target per 90 (3.3) and Expected Goals (xG) over the first four games of the season (7.0), highlighting how his goalscoring exploits are no fluke. He has picked up where he left off last season when the Swede scored an incredible 29 goals in 33 league games.
Gyökeres has the qualities of a pure number nine. His movement in and around the opposition penalty box allows him to take up good goal-scoring positions with the 26-year-old mobile enough to run in behind and break away from markers with quick jinks. Gyökeres’ finishing might be the thing that catches the eye, but his positional intelligence is what facilitates this.
As a frontman, Gyökeres has the physicality and hold-up play to bring others into the game. This doesn’t come at the cost of his possession play, though, with the Swede ranking highly for various possession statistics – Gyökeres is in the 99th percentile for touches in the attacking third per 90 as well as progressive carries per 90.
Something that separates Gyökeres from many other conventional centre forwards is his playmaking ability. Last season saw the former Coventry City striker register 10 assists in Liga Portugal with Gyökeres also creating two big chances in four matches played so far this season. He can do it all.
At 26, Gyökeres isn’t the youngest top-level centre forward, but his meandering career path has allowed him to develop different areas of his game. In the EFL, the Swede had to handle the physicality of English lower league football. He played as one half of a front two at times and as a lone striker at others. Playing under Mark Robins at Coventry was particularly good for Gyökeres’ growth.
Gyökeres scored 21 league goals in his final season at Coventry, but few could have envisaged how his development would so dramatically accelerate in Portugal. The €20m paid to The Sky Blues for the striker now must be considered one of the best pieces of business conducted by any club in Europe in recent times.
Rúben Amorim has built around Gyokeres as his attacking kingpin with Pedro Gonçalves and Francisco Trincão deployed either side of the Swede to give him service. Gyökeres certainly isn’t Sporting’s only high-value asset – see Ousmane Diomande, Gonçalo Inácio and Marcus Edwards – but he is the rarest of commodities. Centre forwards like him are hard to find.
Amorim himself was linked with Barcelona, Liverpool and West Ham over the summer and is destined to test himself in a ‘Big Five’ league at some point in the future. Whenever Amorim moves on and wherever he goes, he will surely push for Gyökeres to follow him such has been his importance to Sporting’s recent success.
“It will be difficult for Viktor to stay at Sporting if Rúben Amorim decides to leave the club,” said Gyökeres’ agent Hasan Cetinkaya. “We had eight proposals for Gyökeres last summer [when he left Coventry City] and he decided to join Sporting for Amorim.” The two figures’ futures could prove to be intertwined.
A buying club might have to stump up €100m to land Gyökeres. This is what Sporting have set his release clause at, leaving the Portuguese champions vulnerable to losing their top scorer. The way Gyökeres is going, €100m could represent a bargain given the prices being quoted for other strikers operating on a similar level.
“I’ve already said – we can’t control this,” said Amorim when asked about Gyökeres’ release clause. “If a player who had a big impact last season leaves, it would mean a lot of money coming in. This is part of the way Portuguese clubs keep their teams competitive. I’m not worried at all. We’ll see what happens. If they leave, it’s a sign that a lot of money is coming in.”
Arsenal are believed to be admirers of Gyökeres. The Gunners could use an orthodox centre forward in the mould of the 26-year-old to push them closer to the Premier League title. Gyökeres might not be Haaland, but he is the closest to the Manchester City striker Arsenal are likely to get their hands on.
Manchester United are another Premier League club that would be improved by signing Gyökeres. Rasmus Højlund has potential at the number nine spot, but he doesn’t have the finishing instincts nor the playmaking ability of the Sporting centre forward. Gyökeres would be an upgrade.
For the time being, though, Gyökeres must continue to deliver for his current club. Sporting CP qualified for this season’s Champions League by winning the Portuguese title, giving Gyökeres the opportunity to prove his worth among Europe’s elite. For Sweden, the 26-year-old could also make an impact in the UEFA Nations League and qualification for the 2026 World Cup.
At his current scoring rate, Gyökeres is on course for 59 league goals this season. That, of course, is unlikely to materialise, but his blistering start to the season has only drawn further attention to one of the most reliable goalscorers anywhere in European football. The Lisbon club might ultimately have to sell Gyökeres, but they’ll have many more goals to celebrate before that happens.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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