Treble chance... Viktor Gyokeres celebrates his Champions League hat-trick against Manchester City.

Viktor Gyokeres price tag sky rockets as Arsenal given transfer indication

by · football.london

It was the battle of two of the hottest No.9s in European football on Tuesday night. Sporting CP took on Manchester City in the Champions League and all eyes were on the two strikers.

Erling Haaland has already made his name in England's top flight, having done so in Germany before that too. Viktor Gyokeres is the challenger, banging in the goals for fun in the Portuguese league, but not having done so in one of Europe's big five divisions as yet.

But if Tuesday night is anything to go by, the Swede is certainly ready for that big-money move. While Haaland had a plethora of chances - and missed a penalty - Gyokeres outshone his Scandinavian counterpart in the Estadio Jose Alvalade.

Gyokeres scored the equaliser, somewhat against the run of play after Phil Foden had given City an early lead in Portugal. And then, after the break, the frontman did what Haaland could not do, and scored from the penalty spot - twice.

That meant he took home the match ball - something both strikers are used to doing - and took his tally for the season to 23 goals in 17 games. He has four assists too, making it 27 goal involvements in 17 matches.

Gyokeres was heavily linked with a move away from Sporting this summer, but the £86million price tag on his shoulders put a number of teams off. Arsenal were one of those tipped to make a move, but refused to do so in the end.

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Gyokeres will, undoubtedly, be linked with a move to the Emirates Stadium again in January and next summer too. While with Ruben Amorim taking over at Manchester United, the Red Devils will also be linked.

But any interested parties will likely have to pay even more than they were quoted this summer, given his form in front of goal. Speaking on Amazon Prime Video's coverage of the Champions League on Tuesday night, Alan Shearer said: "With numbers like that absolutely. He’s just put another £40million on his price tag as well."

If his release clause was £86million in the summer, clubs may have to shell out £126million if Shearer is on the money!


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