Man Utd hurtle towards dazzling Gyokeres swoop with Amorim keen to use ‘not adequate’ star as bait

Manchester United have been boosted in their quest to reunite Ruben Amorim with Viktor Gyokeres after it was revealed they are ‘ready to make their move’ to land the Sporting Lisbon striker in a sensational swap deal involving a player deemed ‘not adequate’ by the new Red Devils manager.

A new era is underway at Old Trafford with Manchester United having turned to the 39-year-old Amorim in an effort to help return them to their former glories. Picking up the pieces of the underperforming squad left behind by Erik ten Hag, hopes will be high that Amorim can finally help restore the Red Devils to serious challengers for the game’s biggest prizes.

Predictably, Amorim is being linked with several of the Sporting CP stars he left behind in Lisbon as he looks to weave his magic at Old Trafford. And none come bigger than Swedish hot-shot Gyokeres, who has smashed his way to an incredible 66 goals in 68 appearances since arriving from Coventry in summer 2023.

Claims that Sporting are willing to let their super-Swede depart in 2025 for a fee of around €75m (£62.4m, $79.1m) have certainly raised believe at Old Trafford that a deal could be there to be done.

And now on Fabrizio Romano’s Daily Briefing, it’s been claimed that a possible swap deal could be the key to unlocking the prospective transfer.

‘Manchester United are ready to make their move for Sporting Lisbon striker Viktor Gyokeres by offering cash plus a player in return, the Daily Briefing understands,’ the report reads.

Additionally, the report notes how Joshua Zirkzee’s ‘future could already be in doubt, with a move to Sporting looking like a serious option’.

Zirkzee has also been linked with a return to Serie A at Juventus despite only moving to Old Trafford in the summer. Reports in Italy earlier this week claimed Amorim has already decided  the Netherlands striker is ‘not adequate’.

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What have Amorim and Gyokeres said on possible Man Utd move?

Amorim, well aware of the pain his departure from Lisbon to Old Trafford brings, has gone on record to state that he will not return to Lisbon to sign any of his former players in the January window, though has refused to offer any guarantees beyond that.

“I can’t make fun of it, right now, it was hard for me to leave, if I start joking about this Gyokeres situation I’ll get in trouble,” Amorim said on TNT Sports. “This is my city, this is my country, so I’ll respect it.

“Viktor has to stay until the end of the season, and then his life maybe is going somewhere else.”

The 26-year-old is also eager to brush aside speculation that suggests he could reunite with his manager in the Premier League.

“Going with Amorim to Manchester United? I don’t know,” Gyokeres replied when asked about the possibility of joining Amorim earlier this month following his four-goal display against Estrela.

“I’m here. As you can see, I enjoy it at Sporting.

“It’s nothing I really think about. I’m sad about him [Amorim] leaving. We wish him all the best.”

However, Romano is convinced that a departure is on the cards for the player in the summer.

“The feeling at Sporting is that Viktor Gyokeres can complete the season at the club and then decide his future destination in summer 2025. For sure, we expect Viktor Gyokeres to leave Sporting in 2025, should be in the summer, so this is the idea,” Romano told his YouTube channel last week.

“Amorim has been honest, he is not planning to go for Gyokeres in the January transfer window, also, because he doesn’t want to break the relationship with the club, the relationship with the Sporting fans. So going for Viktor Gyokeres in January would mean creating a problem, an issue to the relationship.

“In the summer, it could be completely different for any club…But the interest is obviously there, and many clubs are starting to work behind the scenes on the Viktor Gyokeres story for 2025.”

Latest Man Utd transfer news: Liverpool target linked / Atletico swap proposal

Meanwhile, journalist Ben Jacobs has explained why United should not be discounted from the race to sign Eintracht Frankfurt striker Omar Marmoush.

The Egyptian star has been heavily linked with Liverpool in recent days, but Jacobs believes United’s need for a new striker, particularly with doubts already emerging over Zirkzee, means they could be dark horses in the battle to sign a striker who already has 14 goals from 16 appearances to his name this season.

Elsewhere, United have reportedly been approached by Atletico Madrid to ask about taking Alejandro Garnacho back to the Spanish capital in an ambitious cash-plus-player swap involving one of Diego Simeone’s pet projects.

And finally, sources have informed us that a teenage United full-back Harry Amass is the subject of interest from Aston Villa with sources suggesting a January approach could be on the cards.

Gyokeres record last season compared to various Premier League attackers