How late bloomer Gyökeres became Europe's most-wanted striker

Viktor Gyökeres has gone from Championship flop to one of Europe's most in-form strikers in the space of just three years.

The Sporting CP forward has outscored Manchester City's Erling Haaland this season to continue a devastating run of form that makes a big-money transfer either in January or next summer a near certainty, with several Premier League clubs among those casting admiring glances at the 26-year-old. It is all a far cry from January 2021, when a dismal loan spell at Swansea City was cut short for a striker on Brighton & Hove Albion's books not yet considered ready for first-team action. Even those who kept faith are surprised at Gyökeres' stunning transformation.

Chris Badlan, now head of recruitment at Scottish club Aberdeen, held a similar position at Coventry City when Gyökeres arrived.

"I always thought Viktor was a Premier League striker, but did I see him being compared to Haaland? No, and not many people would," Badlan told ESPN. "But did I think he'd score goals when I saw he'd signed for Sporting Lisbon? Yes, 100%.

"The attributes he's got, we all knew he'd be a very good striker. To get to the level he's got to, you have to have a bit of luck like everybody, but you still have to have that mentality. Viktor has always wanted to be the best player he could be, and he's gone and done that."

Growing up in Sweden

Gyökeres joined Swedish club Brommapojkarna aged 16 and began work on converting from a winger to a centre-forward. "Whilst everybody else had normal training, I was training by myself on the other side of the pitch honing something so basic," Gyökeres said earlier this month. "It was incredibly tough, but it took me to the next level."

Brommapojkarna scout David Eklund tells ESPN: "We saw that he had the abilities to be a No. 9 with his strength and breakthrough capacity and started to focus on those abilities. He grew a lot and started to produce goals more and more regularly."

Eighteen goal involvements in a breakthrough season followed, and the story of his final weeks at Brommapojkarna is the stuff of fairy tales.

"Two weeks before his final game we had secured promotion to Allsvenskan [Sweden's top tier] and we all knew that Viktor were leaving for Brighton after the season," Eklund said. "In the final game we had our sights on winning the league, and Viktor also had an internal battle for being our top goal scorer, tied with Kevin Kabran. After scoring a hat trick, he was subbed off and the entire stadium stood up for him, as well as the players and staff on the bench.

"[It was] one of the great highlights in our history."

His move to Brighton in 2018 appeared to signal a significant step forward, but his upward trajectory quickly flatlined.

Gyökeres technical analysis (by Tor-Kristian Karlsen)

Gyökeres already attracted the attention of a vast number of European elite clubs when breaking through as a teenager at Brommapojkarna in the mid-2010s. His performances there and for Sweden youth sides earned him the "wonderkid" tag, and he was considered the country's biggest attacking talent since Zlatan Ibrahimović.

Now scoring goals for fun at Sporting, he is finally delivering on that early promise.

While sharp finishing skills have always been a part of his game, despite periodically failing to use them consistently, the 26-year-old has refined those abilities to perfection. Whether thanks to added maturity or detailed coaching work by Ruben Amorim and his team in Portugal, he's now capable of scoring from a wide range and a variety of means.

Perhaps what makes him so prolific is his quick execution technique. When in possession of the ball in the box, Gyökeres is excellent at mapping out the immediate surrounding area and will find target either on the first contact with the ball or after minimal adjusting touches. He rarely dithers or over-elaborates in front of goal. Though right-footed, he's become highly capable of finishing with his left -- through power and picking his spot -- or occasionally by way of fine heading technique.

It doesn't matter if service comes from wide or central positions; he is extremely good at anticipating the movement patterns of the defenders (i.e. where they are heading). He regularly arrives on the blind side for a one-touch finish, often at the back post or from cutbacks. Yet what makes Gyökeres even more desirable for the elite clubs is how he conducts himself when venturing wide or into deeper areas. He can be a classic poacher in front of goal, but he also has the long-distance pace, ball-carrying skills and acceleration to cause real havoc in transitional play.

One relatively new technical detail is his capability to deceive his marker when positioning himself wide, especially left. When being played into, he often uses a decoy step or two toward the ball to make his opponent think he's about to control the ball, inviting them to close him down or tackle. Instead, he'll spin on the half-turn without taking a touch, pulling the opponent away from the ball and leaving them behind, turning his body to face goal and darting toward the box in the process. This detail in not only a feature usually privy to nimble wingers, but it also illustrates how quickly he gains pace for a standing position, his intelligence and an impressive command of his body (which mustn't be taken for granted in a 6-foot-2 centre-forward).

Beyond the mere technical and tactical aspects, Gyökeres plays with real confidence. Scoring goals makes for a virtuous circle, of course, but his immense self-belief is also likely a product of Amorim's motivational skills and unwavering trust in the player. With his confidence levels right now there is an extra level of energy to his play: the first touch is more assured plus his audacious flicks and quick one-twos tend to come off, too.

England move has ups and downs

Gyökeres is viewed by many as the one who got away for Brighton given the rapid acceleration in his development of late, but he is also by definition something of a victory for their recruitment model that they identified him in the first place. Brighton have developed a reputation as one of the best identifiers of obscure talent through a data-led analytics model shrouded in secrecy and the brainchild of owner, Tony Bloom.

A source at Brighton with knowledge of the situation told ESPN that Gyökeres started reasonably well in the under-23s setup, but the club decided a loan pathway was the best option for his development. Gyökeres spent the 2019-20 season at German club St. Pauli, where he scored seven goals in 28 games, often deployed out on the left wing.

Another source told ESPN that Brighton then preferred a second loan move, this time to a club in the English league where they could better gauge his ability, but the ensuing six-month period at Swansea that followed was a big disappointment. One source connected to Swansea told ESPN that Gyökeres "looked lost" at times, something underlined by a record of just one goal in 12 across all competitions. That solitary strike came in an FA Cup third-round game at Stevenage.

By the time he returned to Brighton in January 2021, Gyökeres was at a crossroads. Sources have told ESPN that Gyökeres had an option to go back to Germany, but he chose to join Coventry.

"Viktor is someone me and my chief scout at the time, Stuart Benthom, knew about when he was playing out in Sweden," Badlan tells ESPN. "As a scout, you need to know who the best 16/17-year-olds are who are playing on the continent. Brighton had signed him so we followed him in their U23s, he then went to St. Pauli and we just kept tracking him like you always do.

"We had an interest in [central defender] Leo Ostigard at the same time, so it kind of helped that when we watching Leo at St. Pauli, Viktor was there."

Ostigard joined Coventry in August 2020 and helped convince his friend Gyökeres to take a step down to the second tier of English football a few months later, initially on a six-month loan.

"He was obviously very frustrated with what happened at Swansea," Badlan says. "Brighton were looking to get him on a new contract but I knew Viktor's agent at the time well, having done deals with him at Norwich, and then we had two or three centre-forwards injured at the same time so we could show him the opportunity. It all married up because he wanted to play and we needed a striker straight away."

Although Gyökeres started slowly, the summer of 2021 (when he turned 23) is considered a pivotal moment in his career. He spent the holidays working hard on his conditioning, returning for the 2021-22 preseason a different player.

"Viktor's biggest strength is his mentality," Badlan says. "When he decides he's going to do something, he's the type that will do it. He went away that summer almost as a man on a mission.

"He didn't know where his future would be at Brighton, we wanted to sign him but maybe he thought he could get something else -- and while his agent did the work he needed, Viktor's focus was 'right, wherever I end up, I'm going to make this all about me.'

"He worked on his strengths. He was already a powerful runner but all of a sudden his shoulders, he got a bit more square, stronger in his core. It enabled him to roll defenders better. His mentality is ridiculous."

Coventry eventually seized on the opportunity to sign him permanently in the summer of 2021 for a fee of around £1 million. Brighton had offered a new deal but the pathway to the first team was blocked by what they felt at the time were better options including Neal Maupay and Danny Welbeck.

Coventry deserve credit for the technical evolution in his game under former Manchester United striker Mark Robins, who departed the club earlier this month. The positional ambiguity seemed to be a metaphor for the lack of direction in his career -- Brommapojkarna claim to have made him more of a centre-forward but Gyökeres would either start or naturally drift out to the left during those loan spells away from Brighton.

Finally and unequivocally, Gyökeres was converted from a left-sided forward to an out-and-out No. 9.

"With Mark Robins and Adi [Viveash, assistant manager], they polished the rough diamond that he was," Badlan says. "They simplified his game. They worked with him in identifying his best attributes. He still had that tendency when he started to drift into that left channel. He was almost playing as a left forward at St. Pauli.

"Part of his game now, a lot of his strengths come from that left side, coming in and getting that shot. Mark, being an ex-striker, helped Viktor understand his body, getting his positioning right, where to make runs, when to get the timing right.

"It also helped that the group at that time we're all really hungry: Callum O'Hare, Ben Sheaf, Gustavo Hamer, Viktor -- they were all young and determined to get to that next level. There was a passion in all the players in the building. When I was speaking to players, a lot of the transfer strategy was 'come here and use us a steppingstone, do what you need to do and make your move from there.'"

That is precisely what Gyökeres did. After scoring nine goals in his first 11 games, he would go on to register 44 goals in 116 games across all competitions before reaching another crossroads in 2022-23.

Gyökeres stats analysis (by Sam Tighe)

When it comes to strikers, goals tend to speak for themselves -- and Gyökeres' whopping tally of 33 for club and country so far this season is a powerful statement. As Tor notes, he has showcased all manner of power, technique, cunning and cold-bloodedness over the past 18 months, laying waste to a series of teams. Already this season, he has scored hat tricks against Azerbaijan, Estrela, Farense and Manchester City.

The caveat here is that three of those four teams are extremely weak -- and indeed, the quality in the lower half of Portugal's Primeira Liga is severely lacking. This, plus a healthy dose of penalties (seven in the league and Champions League last season; eight already this term), plus Sweden's curious positioning in UEFA Nations League C -- allowing him to plunder nine goals by playing Azerbaijan, Estonia and Slovakia home and away -- has clouded the statistics somewhat.

Perhaps, then, it's more appropriate to judge his impact against fellow domestic powerhouses Benfica and FC Porto. He met them seven times last season, scoring four and assisting two; and this term he has notched three more against Porto in two games.

He has outperformed his expected goals (xG) mark for three straight seasons and has done so by a healthy margin (especially last season, when he scored 6.9 goals more than expected). This is typically the sign of a reliable, excellent finisher.

But it's not just the shooting statistics that paint a glowing picture: His 4.2 shot-creating actions per 90 places him in the 94th percentile across Europe for chance creation among forwards; in the domestic league, he's third in his team for key passes (22), just behind Sporting's chief creator Pedro Gonçalves in terms of expected assists (3.2 to 3.1) and he's top dog for progressive carries (51).

True, he cleans up against weak opponents, but this should not be seen as a barrier to progress; there are so many other facets to his game that shine. A player who can sprint, carry the ball, create space for shots and finish like he does could call any elite club in the world home.

Liftoff at Sporting

There was an acceptance at Coventry that Gyökeres would eventually leave.

"He rang me before the summer when he knew he was potentially going to be leaving," Badlan says. "He said to me: I only want to go to Bundesliga, Portugal, Italy, Spain or Premier League. If anybody else rings you, I'm not going. He almost had his career mapped out in his mind."

Sources have told ESPN that several Premier League clubs including Everton, West Ham United and Wolverhampton Wanderers showed varying levels of interest in Gyökeres, but his preference was to join Sporting.

His recent scoring form has led some to question why bigger clubs didn't take a punt on the €24m fee (including add-ons) which Coventry were demanding, but that is easy to say in hindsight. At the time Gyökeres had only one year remaining on his Coventry contract, but owner Doug King was steadfast in his valuation. The player's camp viewed Sporting an appropriate next step, completing a deal which saw Brighton receive a considerable share of the fee.

"People say he is the one that got away, but it wasn't a bad return for a player who never played a Premier League game for us," a source close to Brighton told ESPN.

It is no exaggeration to suggest Gyökeres stunned everybody with his goal-scoring prowess at Sporting. In his first season, he scored a staggering 43 goals and registered 15 assists.

Former Portugal international centre-back Daniel Carriço came through the youth ranks during a 13-year stay at Sporting and remains closely connected to the club following his retirement last year. He believes Gyökeres' relationship with former head coach Ruben Amorim was pivotal.

"Gyökeres improved not only as a player, but Ruben has a lot of dynamics as a coach, wanting to play with the ball, and Gyökeres was like a new weapon for him," Carriço tells ESPN. "Before he arrived, Sporting were not so strong in the space, and Gyökeres gave that quality to Ruben Amorim's squad.

"He was the biggest weapon against all the teams and Ruben loved to have him in his first XI. Amorim improved his game in all the ways, not only physically, but technically he improved a lot. He knows how to move and beat defenders."

Gyökeres' record is, frankly, ludicrous. He has scored 69 goals in 68 games for Sporting in all competitions and has quietened some of the scepticism around that record based on the dubious strength of Portugal's Primeira Liga by becoming a prolific finisher for Sweden, plundering 15 goals from 26 appearances to date.

It's worth noting that Arsenal did keep him quiet in Tuesday's Champions League clash, a rare achievement, as the robust defensive partnership of William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhães stood firm. Saliba said postmatch: "We were well prepared. I think we did a great job. He is a good player."

A sign of the attention Arsenal paid Gyökeres could be seen in Gabriel appearing to mimic the striker's goal celebration -- covering half his face with interlocking fingers to resemble a mask in a tribute to Bane, the villain in 2012 film "The Dark Knight Rises" -- when scoring the Gunners' third goal on the stroke of half-time.

Gyökeres still had five shots and 40 touches against Arsenal but an xG of 0.37 in a 5-1 home defeat, the first loss in Sporting's 20-game season so far. "He can score in all the ways," Carriço says. "The only thing I think he can improve is heading. When he is inside the box, he is not the best quality, but I think he can improve.

"He wants to show every day that he is one of the best strikers in Europe, and right now all the teams in the big five leagues are paying attention. It will be difficult for Sporting to keep him."

The sight of Saliba and Gabriel shackling Gyökeres so effectively will lead some to question whether his €100m release clause represents value.

"The players that are leaving the Portuguese league now, you are looking at £40m-£60m now for a lot of the players who leave," Badlan says. "So a striker with his goal record -- and he's doing it on the international stage -- it is where football has gone. You get average players going for £30m now. In the current market value, then that is the going price for a striker who has the goals he's got, especially now he's scoring for Sweden. You put him anywhere; he scores goals."

Will Gyökeres leave, and where could he go?

Gyökeres' representative did not respond when contacted by ESPN, but reports suggest that next summer, Sporting may accept a lower fee than his €100 million release clause. One source connected to Sporting suggests the September signing of Conrad Harder from Nordsjælland in a deal worth over €20m was completed in preparation for Gyökeres' departure.

Manchester United are an obvious option given Amorim's arrival at Old Trafford and his close connection with the player, though sources have told ESPN that United will struggle to raise the required funds in January given their limited headroom in complying with Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR). In any case, Gyökeres himself has played down a midseason move.

"I want to finish this season at Sporting," he said last week. "I love it here. We will see [about a new club] when the time comes. I want to play, that's crucial, and there will be also other factors."

Amorim was also quoted by A Bola as saying: "I will not sign any Sporting player at Man United in January ... then, what happens in the summer I don't know."

However, Carriço believes nothing can be ruled out. "For sure, Ruben wants him at Man United," he says. "Ruben said in the next market [January] that he will not [target] Gyökeres but we never know. Football is a box of surprises, and we will see in the next months what is going to happen.

"Everybody knows the Portuguese league is good but not good enough for that kind of player. The numbers he is doing are amazing, competing with the best strikers in the world. Sporting has to accept in the next market or the summer market, it will be impossible to keep a player like him."

A summer move for Gyökeres would appear more likely at this point, when United could have competition from Manchester City given Sporting's sporting director, Hugo Viana, will have by then completed his move to replace Txixi Begiristain at Etihad Stadium. "Don't rule out City given Hugo's arrival," one well-placed source told ESPN.

Arsenal have also scouted Gyökeres and are likely to be in the market for a forward next summer. Sources have told ESPN that Arsenal expect a quiet January window, unless injury dictates a change in policy or an unexpected opportunity arises. However, they have been long-term admirers of RB Leipzig's Benjamin Šeško. Šeško signed a new contract with Leipzig last summer, but there is a belief that he could be available at the end of this season, and the Gunners are monitoring his situation closely. They are also admirers of Newcastle's Alexander Isak -- Gyökeres' strike partner with Sweden -- but a likely fee in excess of £100m complicates any pursuit.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta chose not to be drawn on Gyökeres on the eve of the game, deliberately sidestepping questions about the player's potential impact. This is nothing particularly new -- he often shuts down around big games out of a desire not to rile or motivate an opponent -- but some might also view his lack of engagement through the prism of Arsenal's reported interest.

Across London, Chelsea unsuccessfully pursued a deal for Victor Osimhen before he left Napoli to join Galatasaray in the summer. They are keen on adding another forward and have also kept tabs on Gyökeres for some time.

Whatever his next step, Brommapojkarna will watch on with pride. "As with all of our academy players who have made their mark in international and national football there is of course an increased level of attraction for our club and academy [when players like Gyökeres do well]," Eklund says. "We are very proud of all the players who have gone through our academy and follow them as great supporters along the way."