Sporting boss Ruben Amorim reiterated his side’s stance on Gyokeres recently. “I can’t guarantee anything,” he said. “What I can say is what they tell me and that is that any player only leaves through the clause. It’s the only security that clubs in Portugal have.
“Our idea is not to sell anyone in January, because we have a full calendar and we need all the players available. I’m calm about that. At this moment we are only selling due to the clause, it is a different security than last year, when [Pedro] Porro left in January [to Tottenham] when he was very important in our dynamics.”
Whether Arsenal are prepared to stump up the cash to land two of their targets in January remains to be seen, especially as there is the possibility of signing them for a cheaper price the following summer.