Crazy bidding war underway for top European striker, United stepping out, will focus on Plan B – report

6

Juventus are preparing a €70 million offer for Sporting CP striker and Manchester United target Viktor Gyokeres.

According to Corriere dello Sport, the Turin club are preparing a bid worth €70m, with €10m of that figure structured as bonuses, an amount believed to be close to Sporting’s asking price.

Gyokeres has a €100m release clause, though reports suggest Sporting may accept a package of €60m plus add-ons.

United manager Rúben Amorim is a long-standing admirer of the player he coached at Sporting, where Gyokeres scored 54 goals and provided 13 assists in 52 appearances during a blistering 2024–25 campaign.

Since joining Sporting, the 26 year old has found the net 97 times in 102 games across all competitions, cementing his place as one of Europe’s most feared centre-forwards.

For United, the situation is increasingly complex. The absence of European football next season has cooled Gyokeres’s interest in a potential move.

Amorim’s influence could still prove decisive. The Portuguese coach played a pivotal role in Gyokeres’s development and maintains a strong relationship with the player.

But unless United can match Juventus’s financial and sporting proposal in the coming days, they risk missing out on a key target early in the window.

While Juventus circle Gyokeres, United’s attention may be drifting elsewhere. Napoli’s Victor Osimhen is understood to be a prime candidate should they shift focus, offering a more direct route to a proven goalscorer.

Inside Old Trafford, belief in Rasmus Højlund remains intact.

A recent ESPN report suggested the club hierarchy continues to see elite potential in the young Dane, viewing last season’s flashes not as false dawns but as foreshadowing of what’s to come.

What remains unclear is where Rúben Amorim stands on that vision.

If the new manager shares the front office’s faith in Højlund, United’s strategy this summer could lean toward complement rather than replacement, nudging the search toward profiles rather than stars.

Featured image Gualter Fatia via Getty Images

Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social