NEWS. . . BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
Viktor Gyokores’ agent says “it will be more difficult” for the star striker to join Sporting if Ruben Amorim leaves the club to take charge of Liverpool this summer.
Sporting manager Amorim has Liverpool’s most sensible target to succeed Jurgen Klopp at the end of the 2023/24 season, after Xabi Alonso showed his aim to stay at Bayer Leverkusen.
Reports coming out of Germany this week imply that Amorim verbally agreed to take over Liverpool after holding talks on a proposed three-year deal on Merseyside.
However, the Reds know they would possibly have to pay Amorim’s £12. 8m release clause to keep the coach away from Lisbon, given that the 39-year-old is under contract until 2026.
Gyokeres has been instrumental in Sporting’s fortunes under Amorim this season, with the 25-year-old racking up 22 goals and ten assists as the green-and-whites move four points atop the Primeira Liga with seven games remaining. your campaign.
The striker’s usual debut season, however, has caught the attention of some of Europe’s elite clubs and Arsenal and Chelsea are preparing bids to control Sporting in search of their prized maximum possession.
The relentless hypothesis about Amorim’s long career has only cast more doubt on the Gyokeres scenario and it looks like both the player and the manager may be in a position to walk out the door this summer.
“I’m not surprised that Ruben is linked with Liverpool, it’s normal, his painting is top level, that’s what clubs are for,” Gyokeres’ agent, Hasan Cetinkaya, told A Bola.
“Yes, it will be more complicated for Viktor to stay if Ruben Amorim leaves Sporting, because Viktor came here precisely because of Ruben.
“The day we met I said to Ruben: ‘There’s my boy, he came to your Sporting’.
According to Cetinkaya, eight teams battled for the Gyokeres signing before the Swedish foreigner left Coventry City to work with Amorim at Sporting last summer.
“There were 8 clubs very interested in Viktor last summer,” he added.
“They all paid Coventry more than Sporting, they all paid Viktor more, they all paid a higher commission to the agent.
“And I brought him to Sporting because of Rubén Amorim, because I know his work and his dealings with the players. I chose Ruben because he’s a coach on another level.
Amorim had kept his mouth shut about his future until earlier this week, when, for the first time, he refused to rule out the option of leaving Sporting.
Asked where he could verify that he would remain Sporting’s coach next season, the Portuguese told reporters: “No, I can’t say for sure.
“Sport is already looking to the future, I can’t decide.
“I gave my word and I can’t convey it. If we don’t win titles, I’ll leave Sporting. Let it be transparent from the beginning and that’s the message I gave to the players. We have to win titles.
Amorim added: “First we’ll see if we can do it and then we’ll get things done. This is not worrisome, the long term has been planned for a long time. “
“We outlined everything for next season.
“So I can’t say for sure that I will stay, we have to win titles. And we’re on the right track.
Asked if he could leave if a club activates his release clause, Amorim replied: “I don’t need to live off my future, it’s in this game.
“I probably wouldn’t talk about anything with Sporting.
“I owe a lot to Sporting, I’m very satisfied here. I’ll never make an effort to leave.
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