Chalkias: Sporting and United closed the deal with Gyokeres behind us

Viktor Gyokeres’ agent has criticized Sporting Lisbon for the role he played in their controversial transfer saga.

Gyokeres spurned Manchester United and reunited with Ruben Amorim to complete a £64million move to Arsenal in July.

But in the midst of that decision about his future, he refused to return to pre-season training at Sporting as he sought to force a move.

The club president issued a harsh statement against Gyokeres and a huge rift formed, caused by different expectations over fees.

And now, an assistant to the Swedish international’s agent, Jonathan Chalkias, has spoken out about the mistreatment suffered by his client.

According to Chalkias, Sporting had reached a more lucrative deal with United for Gyokeres behind his back.

That deal would have seen the forward combine again with former boss Amorim, but he always wanted to move to Arsenal, and his club’s secret actions led to a breakdown in the relationship.

Speaking on the Studio Allsvenskan (talkSPORT) podcast, Chalkias claims the striker had intended to join Arsenal throughout the summer.

“It was a lot of money.” [from the Saudi Pro League]It was more than 400 million net per year,” said Chalkias.

“It’s a ridiculous amount of money. Viktor better answer that question one day, we didn’t pressure him like that even once.

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“I think at the end of the day, money comes and goes. Making this move to Arsenal also gives us good marketing. In reality, he was never like that, he didn’t think about that.

“But there was also the problem with Sporting that they had done the deal with United behind our backs.

“They [Sporting] He had accepted because United paid a much higher transfer fee, but they received no attention. Every time they called me it was ‘no, no, no’, because I wanted to go to Arsenal.”

When asked why Gyokeres intended to join Arsenal, Chalkias replied: “It’s just that they haven’t had a new one.” [striker] In the last two years, Arteta spoke with him about going to a club that has not won for some years.

“Getting to do it on the biggest stage, living in London, playing for Arsenal, it’s not much bigger.

“And this is a club that can not only win the Premier League, but can also win the Champions League. They are an incredible team. And there is a lot of talk about their defensive and midfield play and that they need a striker to score those goals.”