Ruben Amorim has suggested that Viktor Gyokeres never really wanted to join Everton.
Speaking to A Bola, the Sporting Lisbon manager claimed that he probably wasn’t interested in the offers he had received from the Premier League.
Gyokeres attracted interest from across Europe as he approached the final 12 months of his contract with Coventry City, after netting 21 goals and providing 12 assists in the Championship last season.
The forward was previously a target for Everton and, at one point, it looked likely that they could land the Sweden international.
However, Gyokeres eventually completed a move worth around £20 million to Sporting Lisbon. The forward has already scored three goals in only five matches in the Primeira Liga.
The 25-year-old is now preparing to compete in the Europa League this week and it has now been claimed that he never really wanted to join a relegation scrap with Everton or Wolves, who had both been linked with the forward.
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Viktor Gyokeres never wanted to join Everton
Speaking to A Bola, Amorin said: “He really wanted to come to Sporting. We saw the offers, (sporting director Hugo) Viana showed me the proposals that the player had.
“He understood the project. He is a very ambitious player. And the clubs he had (trying to sign him) were probably not the ones he wants to go to in the Premier League.”
After spending over £25 million on Beto, Everton could clearly afford to bring Gyokeres to Goodison Park. However, it now looks like he wasn’t interested in moving to Merseyside.
Given that he now has the chance to play European football and potentially win league titles in Portugal, you can’t really blame him for choosing Sporting Lisbon. Especially given the amount of top talents that get big money moves to England from the Primeira Liga.
Though previous reports that claimed Brentford had led the race for Gyokeres make Amorin’s claims quite surprising. Surely a move to the Bees would have been very tempting for the striker.