'I cost Leeds big time by rejecting £11.7m deal – Man Utd now want to sign the player'

Leeds United once tried to sign Viktor Gyokeres before he headed to Sporting CP – whose recently departed manager Ruben Amorim could convince to follow him to Manchester United. Gyokeres had a standout season with Championship club Coventry City back in the 2022/23 season, after making his loan move from Brighton permanent in 2021.

His stellar performances attracted interest from various clubs, including then-Premier League side Leeds United. Former director of football Victor Orta told Portuguese paper Record that he chose to avoid making an £11.7million offer for Gyokeres at City, and instead opted to sign Georginio Rutter from TSG Hoffenheim for a record fee of £36m.

Orta said: “When I was at Leeds United I didn’t want to give €14m for him. Cases like that of Gyökeres are the good surprises that football gives us, those things that we cannot measure.”

After firing Coventry City to the play-off final, before being bested by Luton Town who were promoted to the Premier League, Gyokeres took his scoring talents to Portugal instead of Leeds and signed for Sporting. The Swede secured a five-year deal with the club, with a club-record transfer fee of £16.7m (€20m).

Coventry also received a sell-on fee – now standing a five per cent – for Gyokeres, and his release clause was set at £83.5m (€100m). And since then the striker has been smashing it over in Portugal – scoring 66 goals in 68 appearances and assisting 19 times.

His goal-scoring prowess has made him a hot asset in Europe, and now-departed Sporting manager Amorim may look to bring his star striker to United as he heads to England to lead the Red Devils. Despite there being heavy rumours that the 26-year-old could make a move to Manchester, he has been coy about the speculation.

Speaking last week, Gyokeres said: “He probably has some strikers there already, so we’ll see. No, he hasn’t [asked me to join him]. It’s fun but nothing I attach any importance to because it’s talk and nothing concrete.”

And while there’s no solid links to United, the Swedish striker left Amorim with the best parting gift before he headed to England. The forward scored a hat-trick against Premier League champions Manchester City in a 4-1 Champions League win for Sporting at the beginning of November.

So it remains to be seen if Gyokeres will leave Sporting to join Amorim in Manchester – but it is fascinating to note how many other clubs could have missed out on his signature when the Swede was smashing it at Coventry.