Viktor Gyokeres has told his Sporting CP team-mates that he’s “not a fortune teller” amid rumours he is close to a move to Arsenal.
The Gunners failed in their objective to win trophies this season despite a promising start in the Premier League and a run to the semi-finals of the Champions League.
Arsenal didn’t get near Liverpool in the second half of the Premier League season with Mikel Arteta’s side having to play the final few months of the campaign without a fit senior striker.
Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz picked up season-ending injuries towards the start of the year with midfielder Mikel Merino stepping in as a makeshift striker.
A new striker was one of their priorities for the transfer window anyway with a consensus among fans that they need a top-class centre-forward to decide tight games.
Sporting CP’s Gyokeres, Napoli’s Victor Osimhen, RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko and Newcastle United’s Benjamin Sesko have been among the strikers rumoured to be of interest to Arsenal.
But a report on Tuesday seemed to suggest that Arsenal had opted for Gyokeres and that a transfer for the Sweden international ‘will become official next week’.
It is understood that the Gunners will wait until after Sporting’s final match of the season before attempting to complete a deal and the report added that the Taca de Portugal final ‘will be Gyokeres’ final game for the club’.
And now Gyokeres’ Sporting Lisbon team-mate Pedro Goncalves has revealed that the Arsenal target was still playing coy in the dressing room.
When asked whether he had asked Gyokeres to stay in Lisbon, Goncalves replied on Canal 11: “I asked him and we all asked him. He says he’s not a fortune teller.
“We still have the Portuguese Cup against Benfica to play.
“I have a very good relationship with him, but I don’t talk about it with him.
“What I know is because of Fabrizio Romano… I’m sticking with him. I don’t know if he’s going to leave.”
Goncalves also touched on the improvements he’s seen from when Gyokeres arrived from Coventry City to present day, he added: “I feel like he’s evolved a lot since he arrived.
“There are training sessions where it seems like he’s holding back.”
Sporting CP have already won the league in Portugal and now they are looking to complete a Double by beating Benfica in the cup final this week.
Goncalves continued: “We really want the double.
“Are Sporting coming in better emotionally? We don’t look at it that way. It’s always complicated, a 50/50 game.
“We’ll control what we can, but it’s always a game with a lot of stress and anxiety.
“Of course, we’ll go in with a huge desire to win and do the double, something that Sporting fans really want.”
