Earlier this year Viktor Gyokeres was the subject of links to Rangers – now he’s being rated at €100m (£86m).
The Swedish international and Sporting Lisbon striker is on red-hot form in Portugal and netted his 17th goal of the campaign in an inspired showing against title rivals FC Porto.
Responding to Viktor Gyokeres’ latest showing, high-profile transfer journalist Fabrizio Romano claims Sporting boast a stunning £86m release clause over the Swedish hitman.
This comes after a summer move from Coventry City, Sporting Lisbon paying a reported £18.5m to sign Gyokeres after his 22 goals had fired the Sky Blues to the Championship Playoff Final.
Rangers-linked Viktor Gyokeres on top form
Viktor Gyokeres is on fire and Sporting Lisbon might well be bracing themselves for bids from some of the top clubs in Europe if the hitman’s form continues
Rangers fans reading about the goalscoring form of the 25-year-old striker will also remember ambitious links to the forward during his time at the Ricoh Arena.
Back in May, Football Insider and Wayne Veysey claimed then manager Michael Beale was a “huge fan” of Viktor Gyokeres and that the club had “made a surprise move” to sign the striker.
Valued at £20m even back then it’s a quite remarkable claim and came with Rangers looking to invest in additional firepower for their squad heading into the new season.
Alfredo Morelos was out of contract, fans were unconvinced about striker Antonio Colak, and Kemar Roofe continued to be plagued by injuries.
Transfer lesson as Ibrox strikers stutter
As things would transpire, Rangers moved elsewhere with Viktor Gyokeres clearly a little out of the Ibrox club’s price range.
Rangers did however splash the cash to invest in the club’s frontline with Danilo, Cyriel Dessers, Sam Lammers and Abdallah Sima coming into the club in the summer.
After a stuttering start, several of these names are starting to turn up for the club even if Danilo has been ruled out with a long-term injury problem.
But the situation with Viktor Gyokeres might well provide a lesson for Rangers with the club spending the guts of £15m on attacking recruitment in the summer.
Quality costs money and if Rangers can go up a level in their investment like Sporting Lisbon did here, the financial rewards can be potentially lucrative.
