Viktor Gyökeres

[draconifire]

If we come knocking, no player in his right mind would go to someone else. Especially for Gyokeres.

"Nobody cared until I put on the mask." is what he says about his celebration style.
Are you telling me a player like this will choose another club over Barca?

 

[jamrock]

Just leave it to the farm house.

 

[TheStig]

That is very true.

Take a look at EPL staring 9 for example:

Arsenal has Kai/Jesus, Manu has Zirkzee/Hojland, Chelsea has Jackso, Spurs has Solanke, Liverpool has Darwin.

None of them are consistent 20 goals per season threat (all competitions) , and they are all some of the wealthiest clubs in the world, probably all of them are top 10 in terms of financial abilities. Only Isak and Halaand are proper no 9 there.

Liga clubs has decent ones with old Lewa, Mbappe & maybe Alvarez will catch up.

Same for Ligue 1 & Bundesliga, with only Kane as consistent elite striker there.

This is going to be a tough one for us tbh.

Just like CDM was a couple of years ago, when every decent one was costing 70M or so due to the high demands and low quality.

Just 10-15 years ago we had loads of strikers who would be the best itw right now like Suarez, Benzema, Higuain, Etoo, Lewa, Kun, Falcao, Villa, Ibra, Cavani, Rooney, RvP, Costa... Only Haaland in the whole world right now can compare with any of them and even him only because of the numbers, he's a lot worst then them in general play. Sad days for strikers (not that other positions are much better) and football.

 

[serghei]

If we come knocking, no player in his right mind would go to someone else. Especially for Gyokeres.

"Nobody cared until I put on the mask." is what he says about his celebration style.
Are you telling me a player like this will choose another club over Barca?

I see it differently. Most players don't really dream of playing for a specific club. Barca's pull is a bit overstated at times. The only place where it is still going strong is South America.

Of course, if we do come back and dominate... then players would love playing here, but it is not quite the same compared to Raphinha pulling to come here at a time of distress. It is more about success and players fancy getting a piece of that juicy pie. We add current success to the special aura the clubs always had and players will find it hard to resist.

Considering the amazing work of Flick, there are signs that we are perfectly positioned to land a player like Haaland in 2026. Haaland should be the ultimate priority for us. It's impossible for another player to pop up and produce the numbers he has been putting out. The no9 position is one that requires many years of development at the top.

 

[Porque]

I see it differently. Most players don't really dream of playing for a specific club. Barca's pull is a bit overstated at times. The only place where it is still going strong is South America.

Of course, if we do come back and dominate... then players would love playing here, but it is not quite the same compared to Raphinha pulling to come here at a time of distress. It is more about success and players fancy getting a piece of that juicy pie. We add current success to the special aura the clubs always had and players will find it hard to resist.

Barcelona does have a certain allure though.

Heritage club
Top league
High wages
Great weather
Nice city/surroundings/coastal

Few big clubs have all of those conditions.

 

[serghei]

Barcelona does have a certain allure though.

Heritage club
Top league
High wages
Great weather
Nice city/surroundings/coastal

Few big clubs have all of those conditions.

Yeah, but we're talking about players who may be born and raised in colder climates. Most of the appeal gets drastically reduced in this case. The heritage part is true, but only on deeper levels. The benefits are not quite immediate, and not all players are gonna value it as us fans do. You need some kind of emotional attachment to what the club's values are, for our heritage argument to kick in and become the driving factor of a player signing.

But I'd personally wouldn't have it any other way. I like that. We have put up in the past all the markings of a legendary club: glory, popularity, legendary players, academy, venue, exceptional style, all of it. That's all you can do. Put it up there so young players will know what we are about. That's it. We don't and shouldn't beg anyone to get a piece of that.

We are getting back to that dominating mental state imo. Wheels are moving.

 

[serghei]

I will only add that top players who join us at our worst will always be most appreciated by me. Anyone wants on board when the boat is luxurious.

 

[Porque]

Yeah, but we're talking about players who may be born and raised in colder climates. Most of the appeal gets drastically reduced in this case. The heritage part is true, but only on deeper levels. The benefits are not quite immediate, and not all players are gonna value it as us fans do. You need some kind of emotional attachment to what the club's values are, for our heritage argument to kick in and become the driving factor of a player signing.

But I'd personally wouldn't have it any other way. I like that. We have put up in the past all the markings of a legendary club: glory, popularity, legendary players, academy, venue, exceptional style, all of it. That's all you can do. Put it up there so young players will know what we are about. That's it. We don't and shouldn't beg anyone to get a piece of that.

We are getting back to that dominating mental state imo. Wheels are moving.

Colder climates players would be more adaptable to England sure, but that doesn't mean they wouldn't prefer the sun. All the Swedes in Thailand tell me otherwise

As you suggest though, it isn't so cut and dry. I'm just saying a strong Barcelona that pays well has a ton of added value to aid into a players choice.

 

[ajnotkeith]

I am a regular watcher of the Championship and I saw this player play many times for Swansea and Coventry. He was alright but nothing special. He also was contracted with Brighton (before they became a top half team) and never managed to make a single Premier League appearance for them. For Brighton, he only managed to make the bench twice in any Premier League game.

He was loaned to Swansea in the Championship and failed to score a single goal for them.

He was loaned to the Bundesliga 2 and scored 7 goals in 19 appearances. The 2nd Bundesliga is roughly on par with the Liga Portugal or likely worse. At this time (21 years old) he was rated at £500k by Transfermarkt.

He moved to Coventry for a small sum of 1 million euros and in his first season, was again only a bench option.

After 2023, his performance began to pick up tremendously and he went from a player who could not even make the bench at Brighton and Swansea to a prolific scorer in the Championship, becoming arguably the best striker in the league in the space of a year, preceding which, he was unable to make a single Premier League appearance for Brighton or even be an effective striker in the 2nd league of Germany.

The first time Viktor Gyokeres played top division football is at the age of 25.

At the age of 25, which in my opinion, is an unusually late age to show unbelievable sudden improvement, he began to become one of the highest performing strikers in Europe, scoring 29 goals in one Liga Portugal season. He now has 16 goals in 10 appearances in this current season.

In my opinion, there are few explanations for how a player that was not even good enough to perform for the likes of Swansea, St Pauli and not even good enough to make the bench at Brighton has suddenly become a £70 million rated striker at Sporting.

For me it is hard to explain how a player goes from being poor or average to one of the best strikers in Europe in the space of a year. Whilst there are sometimes remarkable cases in which players suddenly become elite footballers, they are extremely rare.

Therefore, it is my strong belief that this player is a drug cheat.

For reference, here are his physical stats from his performance in the CL :

Top speed : 34.55km/hr

Average : 34.14 avg. per match!!!!!!!

34.55km/hr is generally considered to be around the highest echelon of top speed, usually we do not see players surpassing 35 or 36, this puts him as one of the fastest strikers in the world, but the most shocking thing, as highlighted, is the fact his average speed (likely referring to any high intensity sprint in game) is almost the same as his actual top recorded speed. So roughly every time he makes a high intensity sprint he is almost reaching his top speed.

His ridiculously strong physical performance along with his very unique and fast rise to elite level whilst previously being a 2nd division level footballer, in my opinion, suggests irregularities.

As my opinion is based purely on speculation, I don't proclaim it as fact and it is purely my opinion, however, I would be wary that when this player moves to a league with more stringent drug testing his performance may decline significantly.

So I believe we should avoid signing him lest his performance unexplainably decreases when he moves to a top league.

 

[khaled_a_d]

His improvement isn't that much different from a player like Sorloth last year, who was a donkey at Sociedad but improved massively in Villarreal.

It might have been a change of coach or personal behaviour tbh.


Also, checkout Drogba's career.

He scored 15 goals in 72 games in French 2nd division by the age of 24 and then he exploded at later age.

 

[ajnotkeith]

His improvement isn't that much different from a player like Sorloth last year, who was a donkey at Sociedad but improved massively in Villarreal.

It might have been a change of coach or personal behaviour tbh.


Also, checkout Drogba's career.

He scored 15 goals in 72 games in French 2nd division by the age of 24 and then he exploded at later age.

Quite rudimentary way of analysis, but I will show their market value graphs as a rough estimate of their improvement :

Sorloth :

Seems quite normal, some ups and downs, peaks and troughs, and eventually gradual increase :

 

[ajnotkeith]

This is Gyokeres :

From what this graph is saying, this guy literally suddenly became one of the best strikers in the world in the space of a year.

 

[Porque]

Conor Benn Gyokeres. Well that was an escalation I didn't expect today.

Thing with football is there are so many talented players that miss out on the top level through wrong moves, not being spotted at the right time, mental aspects, etc.

Just look at us and the difference and response of certain players to being under Flick and under Xavi.

Or how increase of physical training will move a player up a tier.

So I don't want to point to doping even if it may be the case. I guess we will learn more about what it is and the impact of Amorim if he can replicate the improvements with Man United players and also how Gyokeres performs after Amorim at Spitting.

One point to add is that the Portuguese League will very often make a good player look great. The quality of the majority of the sides there will be Championship level, with Sporting themselves being way way better.

From Jardel to Jackson Martinez to even Darwin Nunez. There are so many strikers who could not score outside the league.

 

[ajnotkeith]

I am not saying for sure that there is something suspicious about it, but the thing that makes me ponder it is the fact that his best attribute is his endless running and incredible stamina and speed.

 

[Maradona37]

"So far, Manchester United have not played a role in the race for Viktor #Gyökeres.

⚠️ However, with the confirmed appointment of Ruben #Amorim at #MUFC, it is possible that the Red Devils will become involved soon. Close sources believe this will happen, as Amorim is a big fan of Gyökeres. The Swedish striker has scored 59 goals and provided 23 assists in 65 games under the new United manager at Sporting so far.

Four clubs are currently in the race: Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool, and Chelsea. The 26y/o can leave Sporting next summer for €60-70m, as revealed earlier this week.

@SkySportDE"


Think his clause is 100m.

Are they gonna dump Hojlund or Zirkzee already? Neither is good enough but they have only signed 1 year ago and a few months ago respectively.