Viktor Gyokeres’ agent has hit out at Sporting Lisbon for the role they played in his controversial transfer saga.
Gyokeres snubbed Manchester United and a reunion with Ruben Amorim to complete a £64million move to Arsenal in July.
But amid that decision on his future, he refused to return to pre-season training at Sporting as he looked to force a move.
The club’s president released a stern statement against Gyokeres and a huge rift formed, caused by different expectations on fees.
And now, an assistant to the Sweden international’s agent, Jonathan Chalkias, has spoken out about his client’s mistreatment.
According to Chalkias Sporting had agreed a bigger-money deal with United for Gyokeres behind their back.
That agreement would have seen the forward combine with former boss Amorim again, but he always wanted a move to Arsenal, and his club’s secret actions led to a breakdown in the relationship.
Speaking on the Studio Allsvenskan podcast (talkSPORT), Chalkias, claims the striker was intent on joining Arsenal throughout the summer.
“It was such a lot of money [from the Saudi Pro League], it was well over 400 million net per year,” Chalkias said.
“It’s a ridiculous amount of money. It’s better Viktor answers that question some day, we didn’t once push him in that way.
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“I think at the end of the day, money comes and money goes. Making this move to Arsenal gives us good marketing, too. He was actually never even that way, he didn’t think about it.
“But there was also the problem with Sporting that they had finalised the deal with United behind our backs.
“They [Sporting] had agreed because United paid a much higher transfer fee, but they didn’t get any attention. Every time they called it was, ‘no, no, no’, because he wanted to go to Arsenal.”
Asked why Gyokeres was intent on joining Arsenal, Chalkias replied: “It’s just that they haven’t had a new one [striker] in the last two years, Arteta spoke with him, to go to a club that hasn’t won in a few years.
“Getting to do it on the biggest stage, living in London, playing for Arsenal, it doesn’t get much bigger.
“And this is a club that can not only win the Premier League, they can win the Champions League, they are an incredible team. And there’s a lot of talk about their defensive and midfield play and that they need a striker to score those goals.”
