Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim is set to battle his close friend at Manchester City for the services of £65million-rated Sporting Lisbon striker Viktor Gyokeres.
Amorim has made the 26-year-old Swedish international his number one target for next summer, but City's new sporting director Hugo Viana is also hot on Gyokeres' heels.
Viana will take over the champions' transfer activities from Txiki Begiristain at the end of the season.
He was the mastermind behind Sporting paying Coventry £20m for Gyokeres 18 months ago – and the striker who also played for Brighton and Swansea gave Pep Guardiola an impressive demonstration of his finishing prowess by scoring a hat-trick as the Portuguese club dismantled City 4 . -1 in the Champions League earlier this month.
Both Amorim and Viana have a close relationship with the player. Amorim has recognized that the side he inherited from Erik ten Hag is desperately short of goals, and the promise of being United's main man up front will be tempting.
Ahead of his first game in charge, he has explained that he wants to have a strong say in the players joining the club. United already has a sporting director as technical director in Dan Ashworth and Jason Wilcox. And while Amorim has suggested that recruitment should be a collaborative process, the final decision should rest with the coach.
“I think it should be that way [done] All in all, because if you are a coach who comes in here and you have already chosen the players, it could be wrong because this is a football club that will be here for a long time and you as a coach, you don't know that.
“So you all have to work together and for that we have to improve the recruitment process. The data, the profile of the players we want, but I have to take a strong stance on that because I am the coach and I know how to play, so I think it all comes together, but the last word, as you can say , should be with the manager – not just because it's your right, but because it's your responsibility, because they will eventually ask you about the results, in my opinion.
“I think it all comes together. Improve the recruiting process. I have to understand the league. That's important. If everything lines up, we can buy and sell players.”
Meanwhile, City are also looking to add more firepower despite the presence of two-time Golden Boot winner Erling Haaland. The Blues have not replaced Julian Alvarez after selling the Argentina World Cup winner to Atletico Madrid for £80 million this summer.
Gyokeres would need reassurance that he will not be signed as a back-up to Haaland if City are to have any chance of beating their rivals with his signature.
Comments