Viktor Gyokeres issued financial threat from Sporting president after Arsenal target misses training

Sporting Lisbon president Frederico Varandas has threatened Viktor Gyokeres with a “heavy fine” after the Arsenal target failed to turn up to training on Saturday.

The Sweden international is doing his utmost to force an exit to the Emirates Stadium, and the Gunners are working on a deal to prise him away from the Estadio Jose Alvalade, but Sporting are holding firm on their unspecified valuation of the player.

In a desperate bid to engineer a move to North London, Gyokeres has decided not to report back for pre-season and was nowhere to be seen over the weekend as Sporting began their summer preparations.

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However, Varandas remains as defiant as ever in the wake of Gyokeres’s practice snub, warning the striker’s agents that his actions will make it more difficult for the club to agree his sale.

“We’re calm. Everything can be solved with the closure of the market, a heavy fine and an apology to the group,” a statement from the Sporting president read.

Varandas slams Gyokeres “geniuses” after training snub

“If they [Arsenal] don’t want to pay Viktor’s fair market value, we’ll be very comfortable with that for the next three years.

“If the geniuses who are devising this strategy think that this puts pressure on me to make it easier for him to leave, not only are they completely wrong, but they are also making it more complicated for the player to leave. No one is above the interests of the club. Whoever they are.”

Despite Varandas’s threats, Gyokeres is expected to persist with his tactics over the coming days, as Arsenal and Sporting continue in negotiations for the 27-year-old’s much-anticipated transfer.

The Gunners opted to go all in for Gyokeres after being frustrated in their pursuit of RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko, allegedly feeling that the German side were being unnecessarily demanding with regard to their asking price.

Furthermore, Sesko has stayed quiet during the summer saga, whereas Gyokeres has outlined his desire to play in the Premier League and is taking drastic action to facilitate his dream move to Arsenal.

The Swede has no intention of pulling on the Sporting shirt again and is poised to leave after scoring a staggering 97 goals in 102 games, including 54 strikes from 52 matches last season.

How did the Gyokeres situation turn so ugly?

While Gyokeres’s contract contains a €100m (£86.4m) release clause, Varandas confirmed earlier this year that he would not hold out for that full sum, as “no player” aged 27 leaves Portugal for nine figures in his view.

At the same time, however, the Sporting president denied reports that the club struck a gentleman’s agreement with Gyokeres’s camp, which would have allowed the striker to depart for £60.5m this summer.

The Swede’s entourage were supposedly left furious with that alleged broken promise and now feel that the club are asking for too much money for a player who has given them two years of excellent service.

With neither side willing to back down at the moment, the Gyokeres situation will likely drag on a little while longer, but the breaking point for either party is surely not too far away.

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