Bank: It sounds like a divorce

He scores goals, he always plays, he’s a physical phenomenon, he has the best goal gesture in the world.

What is Viktor Gyökeres doing in the middle of a big argument? What is he doing wrong?

I’ll tell you: He’s turned 25.

No season is better suited for Kremlinology than the ridiculous season, when transfer windows are lagging.

When Manchester United visited Malaysia on their lucrative, but pen-shy, tour after the club’s worst Premier League season ever, they got to meet Anwar Ibrahim.

In addition to being Malaysia’s prime minister, Ibrahim is a dedicated United supporter. He didn’t even know which team to root for when the local all-star team faced Manchester United in a friendly (United lost that one too).

A little later, the prime minister logged into his Instagram, and posted a picture for his 1.2 million followers.

In the picture, he clasped his hands in front of his mouth, in a very peculiar goal gesture. Viktor Gyökere’s gesture.

Gyökeres to United?

In recent days, the silly-season storms have picked up steam, from the British Isles, via Hasan Çetinkaya’s agent’s office and all the way to Lisbon. It’s a soup with many chefs, a dish with period ingredients. An alleged monster bid from Saudi Arabia (a net million a day?). Planted statements in transfer influencer Fabrizio Romano’s social media channels. Premier League giants (United, Arsenal) hovering around a hot goalscorer. Hasan Çetinkaya’s fingerprints are everywhere. Accusations of lies and betrayal, of threats and blackmail. And finally a statement from Gyökeres himself, who believes that false information is being spread and that he himself will tell the truth… sometime, soon perhaps, when the time is right.

It’s mirrors and smoke, accusations and counter-accusations.

Did Hugo Viana, Sporting’s former sporting director, promise that the Swede would leave for 60+10 million euros (including bonuses) if he just gave Sporting one more season? Or is it a fabrication from the Gyökeres camp? Sporting’s new boss Frederico Varandas has dismissed the claim of an agreement. He has no intention of releasing the super Swede at any sale price, at all.

That doesn’t sound like a relationship that can be patched up, it sounds like a divorce that could get just as messy as you want.

Why?

The average age has plummeted in PL

Some things we (or at least I) know nothing about. Others we (I!) can confirm with emphasis.

Like this: Viktor Gyökeres has scored 102 goals in 97 games in Lisbon. He has already shown that he can score goals in English football. He scored a hat-trick against Manchester City.

A price tag of 800-900 million or even more wouldn’t have deterred top clubs from buying for a moment. Oh my God, Liverpool are shelling out almost double that for Florian Wirtz, 22.

No, the problem for Gyökeres is not that anyone doubts that he can score goals or that he has the qualities for the Premier League.

The problem is that he’s old. 27 years old.

You may know that the internet has had a lot of fun with Leonardo DiCaprio’s love life? That the Hollywood star’s relationships have followed the same pattern throughout his life – he meets a supermodel or actress, is with them for a while, and then it ends before they turn 25. If you were born in the 20th century, you can now forget about asking Leo for a chance.

And in recent years, it seems like DiCaprio has taken over as sporting director at every top club in Europe.

The average age of players bought in the Premier League has plummeted by two years in the last decade, a trend that has only intensified in recent windows. If you look at all the top European leagues, as recently as five years ago it was most common to pay the highest sums for players between the ages of 24-26. Now? Now it is the age range of 21-23 years that is clearly paid the most for.

If we take the Premier League as an example: Last summer, fourteen players were bought for over 400 million kronor. Guess how many of them were the same age as Viktor Gyökeres is now.

Correct answer – one, Max Kilman. West Ham paid half a billion for the then 27-year-old centre-back.

There is no single, simple explanation for the total focus on young talent. Partly it is about potential second-hand value (a 24-year-old can still be sold expensively from Arsenal or Man City after two unsuccessful seasons), partly it is about finding talent before the others in an increasingly fierce competition, partly it is also about clubs wanting to develop and shape young players in a chosen playing model, rather than signing ready-made players and forcing them into the model.

The trend is understandable (it’s the economy, stupid!), but the thing about exceptional players is that they are exceptional, right?

Is that why there is a fight in Lisbon

Viktor Gyökeres is 27 years old, but he is never injured, he plays constantly, he scores goals non-stop. He was 25 when he debuted in a top league, is far from any career wear and tear. Doesn’t that sound like a sound investment for a club that needs goals?

According to Portuguese media reports, Hasan Çetinkaya met with Arsenal on Wednesday to sort of get a feel for the deal. Arsenal are chasing a wide swath of the field, and appear to have settled on Slovenian striker Benjamin Šeško from RB Leipzig.

Šeško scored a third as many league goals as Gyökeres last season. Gyökeres played to more goals, had twice as many finishes, more than twice as many shots on goal.

But Šeško is 22 years old, Viktor Gyökeres is 27.

That’s why there’s a fight in Lisbon, that’s why there’s stabbings and leaks left and right. I understand that Manchester United – who need to revamp their entire squad – don’t want to put all their eggs in one basket. I would have loved to see Gyökeres at Atlético, but they have to sell before they can afford such a move.

Someday Viktor Gyökeres will speak, somewhere he will play.

It won’t happen at Sporting, they’re just trying to get as many hundred million as they can for a top scorer who’s no longer super young.