Viktor Gyökeres was one of the players Arsenal targeted for their squad during the summer transfer window.
The Swedish striker had an outstanding season with Sporting Club, which prompted Arsenal to add him to their transfer shortlist.
The Gunners had been tracking him for several months, and there were strong indications that he might join them before the window closed.
However, a move didn’t materialise, largely due to his release clause. Sporting was only willing to sell him for the full amount, which was set at €100 million.
Most clubs, including Arsenal, were reluctant to pay such a high fee for a striker who had only demonstrated top-level form for one season.
Gyökeres seems content with his club’s decision, though he acknowledges that his release clause is likely too high.
He said, as quoted by Sport Bladet:
“Of course. You want to play at the highest level. It (his €100m release clause) was probably a bit too much because nothing came of it. Of course it’s a lot of money. But we’ll see what happens next window…
“Nothing happened and it feels like I had a pretty good season. So yes, that’s probably why there was simply no move. But that’s what Sporting thinks I’m worth, and then you have to respect that.”
Just Arsenal Opinion
Gyokeres is one of the best strikers around, and the Swede will make a good player for us, but we have to only sign him if it is at the right price.
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Bad luck really. As the articles says, it depends upon how much the club needs/wants to sell a player at any particular time. In many cases the Release Clause is not a/the problem.
Merino’s RC was around twice the price Arsenal actually paid because he had only a year left on his contract. There was no possibility of his RC preventing that sale because the alternative was he’d leave for free next summer.
Another player linked with Arsenal a while ago, Raphinha at Barcelona, has an RC of approx. £840m (a neat one billion euros). Nobody in their right mind – including Barcelona, of course – would let that prevent his transfer if all parties agreed, probably for around 10% of the RC. It’s horses for courses.
He would have been perfect for us