Rúben Amorim has explained why Manchester United rejected the chance to sign Viktor Gyökeres just before he finalised his move to Arsenal.
Rúben Amorim’s message to the Manchester United board this summer was simple – he needs experienced goalscorers, and he needs them in place before the 2025/26 season kicks off.
Although the club are still on the lookout for a new striker, their attacking options have already received a major boost with the £127.5 million arrivals of Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo.
Cunha scored 15 goals in the Premier League last season, while Mbeumo netted 20 – both surpassing every United player except Bruno Fernandes, who finished with 19 in all competitions.
The pair are expected to play together for the first time during United’s pre-season tour of the United States, and fans are hopeful they can strike up an understanding before the opening fixture against Arsenal on 17 August.
United were offered late Gyökeres deal
United’s hunt for a No. 9 started with the club wanting to sign Liam Delap from Ipswich Town, but once the 22-year-old sealed a move to Chelsea, United turned their attention to Sporting CP’s Viktor Gyökeres.
However, with the Swede wanting Champions League football, he indicated that while he was not rejecting United completely, his preference was to sign for Arsenal – but negotiations for that move dragged out significantly.
According to several reports, amid an apparent stalemate between Arsenal and Sporting, United were offered the chance to rejoin the race and submit a hijack bid.
However, Amorim’s club declined due to the striker’s preference for Arsenal, with their focus at the time on securing Mbeumo from Brentford, a deal that was completed just a few days later.
Gyökeres is now set to sign for Arsenal in a £63.5 million transfer, and could make his debut for the North London outfit when they visit Old Trafford on 17 August during the opening weekend of the 2025/26 Premier League campaign.
Amorim explains key reason behind Gyökeres rejection
Amorim himself was reported to be keen on bringing Gyökeres in after the 26-year-old scored 66 goals in 68 games under his guise in Portugal. However, speaking to club media in Chicago, the head coach admitted that if a player does not indicate a preference to sign for United, they will not pursue them.
“What we can [say] to the fans is that we want players that they proved [themselves] already,” Amorim said on Friday when asked about United’s transfer plans for the rest of the summer window.
“Sometimes you have a player with a lot of potential, you have to be aware of that. But all the players that are coming, we need to know the player. We need to talk to the player. We need to explain the project. And then one really important thing is they want to come here. That is the key point.
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“So, if during the market we can find someone that can help the team and have all that boxes with them, we are going to do it. If not, we cannot do it because it’s an important time in our club. So they need to want to come here.”
United did not have time for Gyökeres to figure out where he wanted to end up during the initial stages of the window, and dropped their interest in the Swede once he indicated he wanted to join Arsenal.
With his mind made up, he had already shown United they were not his top choice, so they were never going to re-enter the race for the striker just because talks between Sporting and Arsenal were stalling.
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