Do Arsenal have a shot at Gyokeres as Amorim is set for Man United?
Viktor Gyokeres is going to be one of the most talked about players in Europe when the January transfer window opens.
The Swedish striker is doing incredible things at Sporting right now, just as he did last season having made the move to Portugal from Coventry city.
No-one picked him up in the summer despite his goalscoring exploits with Sporting, but it would be very surprising if he does not move on in the next couple of windows.
Personally, I would be surprised if anything happens in January. Sporting will do all they can not to lose him halfway through the season. But when the summer comes around, I imagine he will be off.
You would think that Ruben Amorim’s departure from Sporting to Manchester United will only add to the speculation. Will he follow his former boss to Old Trafford? United have spent big on a couple of young strikers in the past couple of seasons, so that might not be possible.
Gyokeres is a player Arsenal have looked at. That’s well known.
But despite needing a new forward, they opted not to move for him in the summer, even after they missed out on Benjamin Sesko.
I’m still not convinced they will sign a striker in January, even with the poor run of form we are seeing from Mikel Arteta’s side. It still feels more likely that they will wait until the summer when they will have more options available to them.
Gyokeres will be one of those options once again. But Alexander Isak would still be my first choice, I have to admit.
How much is there to the Lookman-Arsenal links?
Ademola Lookman had another excellent weekend for Atalanta in Italy, scoring twice in their impressive win against Napoli.
He’s one of countless wingers who has been linked with Arsenal in the past and they did of course have a close up view of him when they met Atalanta in the Champions League a little bit earlier in the season.
The Lookman link is never one that I had confirmed. It always felt a bit like an agent driven story to me, especially as there was lots of talk about PSG being interested as well and also fresh contract talks with Atalanta.
We’ll have to see if anything materialises in the future but he’s certainly not doing his chances of a move to a top club any harm at all with his performances in Italy right now.
We know Arsenal will be on the lookout for a winger come the summer, with Raheem Sterling expected to head back to Chelsea following his loan spell in North London.
Lookman has shown he can make a big impact at the top level, so we’ll see if a top club comes knocking.