Image: domjisch via flickr
In July 2021 something quite remarkable happened: the unstoppable wonder-machine that is Brighton’s recruitment team made an error. Perhaps being harsh, because this was not about a player they signed, but rather one they let go. Over the past five seasons or more Brighton have enjoyed incredible success in the transfer market.
Multiple players have been bought for tiny sums and then sold for big eight- and even nine-figure totals. Brighton have uncovered incredibly talented players, available for fees that classify as a pittance in the modern game, developed them, and then sold them on for a huge profit. This has funded the football club and allowed them to amass an overall profit on player trading in recent seasons, in contrast to most other sides who have had a gigantic net spend on players.
But on the 9th of July 2021, Brighton sold Viktor Gyokeres to Coventry City for just £1m. And now the Swedish striker is perhaps the hottest property in world football. The club that bought Moises Caicedo for around £4m and then sold him for £115m had somehow failed to see just how talented Gyokeres was. Coventry sold him to Sporting Lisbon for around €24m, netting themselves a very handsome profit. What’s more, that deal included a sell-on clause that could earn Coventry as much as 15% of any profit Sporting make, and with a release clause of €100m likely to be needed to extract the Swede from Lisbon, the Sky Blues are the ones out-Brightoning Brighton!
Sporting See Instant Return on Investment
Gyokeres scored 40 goals across two seasons with Coventry after signing for them on a permanent basis. That was enough to at least tempt a number of Premier League clubs, with Fulham, West Ham, Everton and Wolves all linked to the Swede. However, he opted to go to the Portuguese capital and he settled into Lisbon life instantly.
𝐕𝐢𝐤𝐭𝐨𝐫 9⃣ 𝐆𝐲𝐨̈𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬 🦁 pic.twitter.com/Et60cxx040
— Sporting CP (@SportingCP) July 13, 2023
He bagged 43 goals in 50 games with Sporting in 2023/24, including 29 in 33 league games. That was enough to fire the club, managed at the time by current Man United boss Ruben Amorim, to the Portuguese title. Gyokeres could have moved in the summer of 2024 and, thanks to the title his goals helped win, and the boost they would have given his transfer value, Sporting would been very much in the black.
However, the one-time Swansea City loanee (one goal in 12 games) stayed in the Portuguese capital, despite rumoured interest from clubs including Arsenal, Barcelona and Chelsea. All were put off by the release clause, with Sporting making it clear that it would take the full €100m for them to even countenance an approach. Now, thanks to the blistering form he has showed in the 2024/25 campaign, they may well look to renegotiate his contract to increase that buy-out figure. And those same interested parties, plus every top club around the world, may well be happy to pay.
Incredible Stats in Current Campaign
On the 26th of November 2024, Sporting were hammered 5-1 in the Champions League by a rampant Arsenal side. That was, however, the first real blip for the Portuguese outfit, in what has been a sensational campaign so far. In the Portuguese top flight they have made a perfect start, winning 11 out of 11, scoring 39 times and conceding just five. They have taken 10 points from five CL games too, including an impressive 4-1 win over Man City.
Gyokeres has, of course, been central to that success, and the numbers he is putting up are simply sensational. The Stockholm-born striker has netted five times in his club’s Champions League campaign. However, his league form makes that goal-per-game ratio look shoddy, as Gyokeres has bagged an incredible 16 goals from just 11 matches.
The race for the European Golden Shoe is going to be quite something this year. The Sporting striker may have his work cut out due to the coefficient system the prize uses, which awards 1.5 points for each goal in the Primeira Liga but two in La Liga, the Bundesliga and the EPL. Robert Lewandowski leads the way with 30 points, whilst Harry Kane has 28. Erling Haaland is on 24, with other players in the mix too, but Gyokeres, who also has 24, could well be the one to watch.
European Golden Boot Current Standings
| Player | Club | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Robert Lewandowski | Barcelona | 30 |
| 2nd | Harry Kane | Bayern Munich | 28 |
| 3rd | Alex Tamm | Nõmme Kalju | 28 |
| 4th | Reginaldo Ramires | Riga | 25 |
| 5th | Viktor Gyökeres | Sporting CP | 24 |
| 6th | Erling Haaland | Manchester City | 24 |
| 7th | Mateo Retegui | Atalanta | 24 |
Even if he is unable to claim the prestigious award, currently held by Kane and won a record six times by Lionel Messi, there are other honours and records he might claim. He will have to keep firing all season to beat the Portuguese league record of 46 goals in a season, set by Argentine Hector Yazalde in 1973/74 in just 29 games.
Perhaps an even more ambitious record might concern the most goals in a European season in all competitions. In 2011/12 Messi banged in an astounding total of 73 goals for Barca and right now Gyokeres is on target to really challenge that mark. In all competitions he has scored 24 times in 18 games for Sporting at a rate of 1.33 goals per game.
Messi’s 73 strikes came from 60 games – a rate of 1.22 per match – and so if Gyokeres can maintain his current form he will certainly have a chance. He will only have 34 league games, maximum, but his club have every chance of going all the way in the Portuguese Cup and League Cup, and should make a deep run in the Champions League too. He could play a maximum of 62 games, though that would require his side reaching all three cup finals, including the Champions League via the play-offs (adding two games). It would also mean he would have to avoid injury and be selected for every game, the latter seeming unlikely if Sporting wrap up their domestic league title early.
Incredible for Sweden Too
Even if Gyokeres falls short of Messi’s incredible tally, Gerd Muller’s 66 goals in 1972/73 could be a target. The Portuguese record is 55, a tally Mario Jardel amazingly achieved with both Porto and Sporting, and the Swedish international looks very capable of bettering that.
But leaving club records aside, Gyokeres has also been in remarkable form for his country. His overall record for Sweden stands at a very respectable 15 goals in 26 appearances. But in 2024 he really came of age on the international stage, bagging 10 goals in just seven appearances, including four last time out against Azerbaijan.
The Swedish national team has not been especially strong over the past decade and had dropped to Nations League C. However, with Alexander Isak, Dejan Kulusevski and Gyokeres (the oldest of the three but still just 26), they have one of the strongest front threes in world football. The future looks bright for them, for their star striker and quite probably for whichever side manages to sign him in the summer!