Manchester United have a decision to make in the transfer market next summer and a striker could be a priority, for a third successive year.
Despite the investment in strikers over the past two summers, Manchester United have struggled in front of goal in 2024/25. In 10 Premier League games United have netted only nine times, a pathetic return.
This is more connected to a dysfunctional team, rather than just being down to individuals, but if there is a chance to add a guaranteed goalscorer, Manchester United should take it.
And this is where Viktor Gyokeres comes in. New head coach Ruben Amorim has pledged not to sign Gyokeres in January. Next summer is another matter.
Viktor Gyokeres available at £63 million
Viktor Gyokeres has a release clause at £84 million is his deal, equivalent to 100 million Euros. Yet he can leave for less.
Gyokeres has an agreement with Sporting that he can leave for £63 million in 2025, The Times reports.
This adds a different dimension, making Gyokeres distinctly more affordable, and not pushing him into the really upper echelons of United’s most expensive signings, and those in Premier League history.
Instead, Gyokeres would be cheaper than Rasmus Hojlund, by £1 million, with the Dane costing £64 million.]
Hojlund was signed as a project, with United and Erik ten Hag gambling that he can become one of Europe’s best strikers.
The difference is Viktor Gyokeres already is one of Europe’s best strikers, leading the Champions League scoring charts level with Harry Kane.
Gyokeres has scored 23 goals in 17 games for Sporting and has 66 goals in 67 overall.
The forward has experience playing in England with Coventry, a different level, yet still valuable all the same in terms of knowing what the game in this country entails.
Most importantly, Gyokeres and Ruben Amorim have a proven record together.
It becomes a guarantee, for less than the price United paid for Hojlund. That’s no slight on the Dane, it just becomes too good to refuse.
Hojlund will get his shot
Manchester United may sign another striker anyway, but Rasmus Hojlund can do his best to make the need seem superfluous.
The Dane has already said he is studying Ruben Amorim’s way of playing, and is enthused by the chances lead striker Gyokeres gets.
Hojlund’s task is prove just as ruthless, and show the £64 million spent on him was a wise investment for now, and not just the future.
Gyokeres is a ‘plug and play’ for United, capable of making an immediate impact if he were to arrive next year. But by then, Hojlund may have shown enough to convince United not to shell out.
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