Viktor Gyokeres’ career has exploded with Sporting CP, making Brighton rue their initial sale to Coventry City where he found his feet.
Seagulls make a very rare player mistake
Brighton & Hove Albion are known for their stellar footballing and business decisions around the signing and selling-on of players in what many can see as a cruel exploitation of ‘elite’ clubs who are willing to pay tens of millions of pounds for raw and inexperienced prodigies. Looking at you, Moises Caicedo.
Gyokeres came through the ranks at IF Brommapojkarna, starting out in the U-17s in 2013, where he picked up momentum. He would quickly ascend to the first team, helping the Swedish side win the Superettan (second division) title. He agreed to a two-and-a-half-year contract with Brighton mid-way through that season, having been talent spotted.
| Viktor Gyokeres Career Stats via Transfermarkt | Appearances | Goals | Assists |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coventry City | 116 | 43 | 17 |
| Brommapojkarna | 67 | 25 | 9 |
| Sporting CP | 50 | 43 | 15 |
| Brighton U23 | 31 | 14 | 5 |
| FC St. Pauli | 28 | 7 | 4 |
| IF Bromma U19 | 21 | 20 | – |
| Swansea City | 12 | 1 | – |
| IF Bromma U21 | 10 | 12 | 1 |
| Brighton | 8 | 1 | 1 |
Brighton usually has what you could describe as a world-class talent factory, which clearly failed the Swede. In his time at the club, Gyokeres had three loan moves to St Pauli, Swansea City and finally a career-defining spell at Coventry City.
Despite their frankly genius money-printing, Brighton made a clear and obvious error in selling Gyokeres to Coventry City in 2021 for around £1 million. This is only in hindsight though, as Brighton only sold the player to the Sky Blues after an unimpressive loan spell there. He scored just three times in that initial loan season, thus making a permanent transfer seem acceptable for high-flying Brighton and utterly bizarre for Coventry City.
What he would go on to do for City, is something that they will benefit from for years to come. 43 goals and 17 assists in 116 appearances under manager Mark Robins in three seasons earned him a high-profile move to Sporting Lisbon last summer.
In fact, we are already seeing some of the financial reaping at Coventry City, as their investments from the Gyokeres windfall has taken them steps closer to a promotion push having narrowly missed out on the play-offs this season.
A cult figure for the Leões
Coventry City sold their star man to Sporting Lisbon last summer for an undisclosed fee, which is rumoured to be in excess of £20 million. What makes the deal even better for the Sky Blues is the 15% sell-on clause included in the deal, as reported by Coventry Live.
After the title-winning 23/24 season that Gyokeres has had, they will surely be licking their lips. After just one season in Portugal, the player is already linked with a move to elite European clubs such as Arsenal.
He has become a hero for his new club, helping them finish ten points ahead of second-place Benfica. The side also scored 96 goals in the league campaign, 19 more than second and 33 more than third-place Porto. Gyokeres is at the centre of Sporting’s goalscoring revolution.
Whilst Brighton may rue the loss of such a talent that they surely would’ve been able to sell to Chelsea, Arsenal or Spurs for £100 million plus, it is very possible that Gyokeres has been a product of fortunate circumstances this season.
The striker has been working with two blazing wingers, Pedro Goncalves and former Barça and Wolves player Trincao. The former is massively underappreciated by the usual cash-rich poachers of the top-flight leagues, having been a monumental player for four seasons straight. In this campaign, the 25-year-old was the perfect supporting player to Gyokeres and others, providing 16 assists and netting an impressive 18 times. The latter has revived his career since moving back to his homeland, where he previously played for Braga, after very poor tenures in La Liga and the Premier League. This season, he totted up nine assists and scored ten times.
Attacking has been like poetry for Sporting this season, but who is the poet? A fair share of Gyokeres’ success can be put down to the faith in him by up-and-coming manager Ruben Amorim. The former Braga manager has given the Swede the time and tactical setup to make him flourish, becoming a highly sought after man himself in the process.
It feels like a big money move to a big European club is likely to follow soon, which will line Coventry’s pockets given their reported sell-on fee. As for Brighton, they may look back on the situation as a rare mistake that has the Sky Blues sitting on their riches.
Leave a Reply