Viktor Gyokeres responds to Chelsea transfer as Sporting Lisbon set asking price
Sporting Lisbon star Viktor Gyokeres appears to have dismissed a possible January move to Chelsea.
Gyokeres, 25, joined the Portuguese giants from Coventry City last summer after scoring 21 goals for the Sky Blues in the Championship last season.
The Sweden international has continued that electric form this term, having scored 22 goals and laid on 10 assists in just 25 appearances.
Chelsea are desperate to add more goals to their squad this month with reports in Portugal this week claiming the Premier League side have submitted an offer of £73m for the forward, with part of that made up in performance-related bonuses.
Sporting reportedly rejected that offer with his release clause standing at £86m.
Quizzed on Chelsea’s interest, Gyokeres has insisted he is fully focused on Sporting and is not thinking about his next move.
‘I don’t think anything about it,’ he told Sport TV. ‘I’m here and we have important games to play, I’m focused on that.
‘There’s a lot of talk on social media and elsewhere, but I’m not focused on that I don’t think about anything else. I’m here right now. I’m 100% focused on this and the club.’
Discussing the bid lodged by Chelsea, Sporting boss Ruben Amorim insisted it simply wasn’t enough to tempt the club into doing business.
‘I don’t know, I didn’t even ask [director of football Hugo] Viana,” Amorim said this week.
‘Obviously, I was informed of the news. As soon as they said it was €85m, I thought: ‘that’s not enough’. It’s only €100m [£86m]. I’m not worried.’
Last January, Chelsea did business with Sporting’s fierce rivals Benfica in signing Enzo Fernandez.
The Blues saw a number of proposals rejected before eventually agreeing to pay his £106m release clause.