Viktor Gyokeres started November with four goals in Sporting CP’s 5-1 win over Estrela on Saturday, taking his remarkable league tally to 16 goals in ten games this season. He’s failed to score in the league only once and has a couple of Champions League goals to boot.
Manchester United moved to the head of the line of Gyokeres suitors when they appointed Ruben Amorim, Gyokeres’ manager at Sporting, as Erik ten Hag’s replacement at Old Trafford.
After putting Estrela to the sword, former Coventry City striker Gyokeres was asked about the possibility of a return to England to reunite in the Premier League with the new Red Devils boss.
Viktor Gyokeres can’t stop scoring and Ruben Amorim knows all about him
“I’m here,” Gyokeres told Sport TV in Lisbon. “I really like being here. It’s not something I think about. I’m enjoying it here.
“Of course it’s not a normal situation but we won 5-1 and the team reacted very well. We are professionals and we have to continue like this. We are sad to see him leave. He is a great professional, he was fantastic for us, but we have to adapt.”
Amorim’s eventual replacement at Sporting might prefer Gyokeres in particular to simply continue rather than adapt. The 26-year-old Swede has been prolific in Portugal and scored 29 league goals in 2023/24. The assists have dried up this season but he’s on track to smash his goal record if he remains in Portugal for long enough.
In the summer of 2023, Gyokeres’ agent claimed that Amorim was a deciding factor in Gyokeres choosing Sporting over no fewer than eight interested parties in the Premier League after putting Coventry on the brink of promotion back to the top division.
It’s little wonder he’s still in demand. Gyokeres is in the scoring form of his life but there’s even more to come. His shot accuracy data has been even better in previous seasons but he’s racking up more shots on target per game than ever before and reaping the rewards.
United will present Amorim with striking options who aren’t performing at anything like Gyokeres’ current level. Scoring for Sporting in the Primeira Liga might be more straightforward than scoring in the Premier League for a listless United side but if Amorim believes Gyokeres can meet the challenge his big Premier League move could come back around after all.
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Gyokeres will face English opposition in Europe for the first time this week but it might take another four-goal haul to steal the headlines from his outgoing manager.
Amorim’s last match at the Estadio Jose Alvalade will see Sporting welcome his new city rivals, Manchester City, in Champions League action on Tuesday.
