Viktor Gyokeres hit with big fine ahead of traveling for Arsenal transfer medical
Arsenal’s soon-to-be new striker has had to make some financial concessions before making his move.
Arsenal are about to sign Viktor Gyokeres from Sporting CP, but the striker has had to take a financial hit before completing his move to the Emirates Stadium. The Gunners have been trying to sign Gyokeres for weeks, engaging in tense negotiations with Sporting CP that have been rather unglamorous, at least publicly.
Sporting CP chief Federico Varandas has been on a mission to change the perception that Sporting are a selling club, and at Arsenal’s expense, you could argue that he has succeeded.
Arsenal are set to pay £55,1million upfront and £8.6million in add-ons, and while there has been compromise on both sides, Sporting have made a statement by dragging things out for so long. Though, that has come at a cost, with Gyokeres souring his relationship with the club due to pushing for a transfer and going to pretty extraordinary lengths.
The striker felt Sporting went back on their word by demanding so much for his transfer, and he decided to stay away from pre-season training as a result, effectively going on strike. Gyokeres missed 13 days of pre-season in all, up to the deal being agreed, and Record say the striker has now had to accept a fine as a result.
It’s claimed Gyokeres has now agreed to forfeit his salary for that period, which is reportedly worth £306,000 in total. Though, he has been able to keep his bonus of £437,000 for providing more than 50 combined goals and assists last season. Gyokeres won’t feel the pinch too much as he prepares to welcome a huge pay rise.
The Gyokeres deal is likely to be confirmed either on Sunday or early in the week, with his medical set to take place on Saturday. The striker is set to join Arsenal in Singapore for their pre-season tour, though he of course will not be involved in Sunday’s clash with Newcastle United. Whether he can make his debut in Thursday’s pre-season clash with Tottenham remains to be seen, but it is important to keep in mind that he has not done any pre-season team training up to this point.
Asked about the transfer, Arteta said: “You know I cannot talk about a player who is not ours yet. Whatever happens in the next few hours I’m sure the club will make a statement about it.”
Speaking about recruitment from other clubs this summer, Arteta said: “It’s the competition, you saw straight away before the Club World Cup, what Man City did straight away. We've seen what Chelsea have done, Man United, Spurs and, of course, Liverpool. So you see every club is very, very active. Everybody wants to get better. It's the quality of the squad, the depth of the squad and it’s no different with us.”
On the pressure to win the trophy this season, Arteta added: “Pressure is a great word. I think that means that there is belief in our ability to achieve what we want to achieve. And we've been very, very close the last few seasons and the whole team is going to determine whether we achieve that or not. But we have to make sure that we don't lose sight of what we have to do daily to get to the levels that we want, to set the demands that we want within this goal. Because that's the most important one. The internal demands have to always exceed any external demand. That's what we are trying to achieve every single day.”
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