The 27-year-old has been in talks with Premier League giants Arsenal and Man United following another sensational season at Sporting Lisbon.
Signed from Championship side Coventry City in 2023, Gyokeres scored 43 goals during his first season at Sporting under United manager Ruben Amorim.
Gyokeres went to another level last season, scoring 54 goals in 52 appearances as Sporting clinched the Portuguese league title.
Arsenal and Manchester United were thought to be in a direct battle to sign Gyokeres, who has a release clause of £84m but is available for closer to £70m.
Mikel Arteta is desperate to sign a new striker after going yet another season without a trophy and would happily welcome Gyokeres or Benjamin Sesko to the Emirates Stadium
Amorim had been hoping to book a reunion with his former Sporting star at Old Trafford despite United finishing just 15th in the Premier League and failing to qualify for the Champions League
But Portuguese outlet Report claimed over the weekend that Gyokeres had decided against joining Manchester United this summer and was instead pushing for a move to Arsenal.
That appeared to leave Arsenal in pole position to win the transfer race but the situation was complicated further by reports that the Gunners are becoming ‘fed up’ with negotiations with both the player and his current club.
According to Corriere dello Sport, Juventus are planning to take advantage of the uncertainty by hijacking the transfer and bringing Gyokeres to Turin.
It is claimed that after talks with Gyokeres’ representatives the Serie A giants indicated they are ready to draw up a contract worth £11m-a-year.
Any Juve move for Gyokeres will, however, rely first on the club offloading current striker Dusan Vlahovic, who continues to be linked with a lucrative move to Saudi Arabia
Reports in Italy also say Juventus are planning to make an official offer for Gyokeres, believed to be worth more than £60m, ‘in the next few days’.
Arsenal and Manchester United could yet face further competition for Gyokeres from Saudi Arabia, who are keen to add another star name to their league
Gyokeres recently rejected an approach from Al Hilal but may make a U-turn if moves to Arsenal, United or Juventus fail to materialise.
Spending another season at Sporting Lisbon appears to be off the table, with Gyokeres believed to be ‘furious’ at his club over their approach to his potential sale.
Ex-England defender Rio Ferdinand believes Gyokeres should ’cause a nightmare’ at Sporting to force a move this summer.
‘I’ll tell you one thing, I would be in his office [Sporting president Frederico Varandas] and he wouldn’t be able to leave me,’ Ferdinand told talkSPORT when asked about the latest rumours.
‘I’d be in his bed, I’d be in his front room, his kitchen, he wouldn’t be able to get me out of his sight. I’d be causing him a nightmare to get out if we’d had an agreement
I did that when I was at Leeds. I heard that Manchester United were interested in me and I knew had to let me go.
‘I went to Peter Ridsdale and said, “Listen, I know you need to sell me, let’s not haggle over a couple of million here and there and let’s get a deal done”, and I was there for hours waiting and ended up getting it done.’
Ferdinand has been impressed by Gyokeres’ sensational record for Sporting Lisbon but still doubts he would transform Manchester United
‘Is he the right guy? Listen, he has some really good attributes. I’ve not seen enough of him to be totally convinced,’ the six-time Premier League winner added.
‘The games I have seen him in, in the Champions League against players that match him up physically, I’d love to see a bit more.
‘But there’s no denying that he knows where the goal is. He’s playing in Portugal where he’s been banging in and setting up goals left, right and centre the last couple of years
‘I just think for Manchester United, at this moment in time, I would go for experience more than anything
