The true cost of signing Viktor Gyokeres as several pricey clauses revealed

It's more than you think 

The Swedish centre-forward scored 54 goals in Portugal last season and completed a sublime hat-trick as Sporting shocked Manchester City 4-1 in the Champions League. 

Those phenomenal scoring feats have helped outline the 27-year-old as one of the hottest strikers in European football, and made his transfer to one of the region’s biggest clubs inevitable. 

While a potential reunion with former Sporting manager Ruben Amorim at Manchester United was at one point seen as a realistic possibility, Gyokeres only had eyes for one destination. 

After a failed pursuit for Alexander Isak last summer, Arsenal had been said to be weighing up an offer for RB Leipzig frontman Benjamin Sesko before it became clear Gyokeres was their main target. 

Agreeing personal terms was no issue.

The former Coventry player quickly agreed to a five-year deal and his agent even offered to waive his fee, helping bring down Gyokeres’ overall price to speed up the process. 

The main issue has been in the fine details of the transfer fee between Arsenal and Sporting. 

The BBC’s Sami Mokbel first reported that Arsenal were “on the verge of reaching a full agreement” with Sporting for Gyokeres’ signature on Sunday the 13th of July, and yet it would be another two weeks before the final fee would actually be agreed between two clubs. 

The delay has meant that — directly counter to Mikel Arteta’s wishes — the club’s new signing was unable to join the squad for the beginning of their pre-season tour of Asia when they departed for Hong Kong last week. 

Negotiations over the fee and the nature of ‘add-on’ payments eventually dragged on for weeks. 

Per The Athletic, The Gunners have now finally agreed an initial fee of €63.5million (£54.8m) for Gyokerers and there is €10m to be paid in add ons. 

The full details of those add ons have been revealed by Ben Jacobs. 

They are as follows: 

- For every 20 games that Gyokeres plays more than 45 minutes, Arsenal will pay €1.25m, up to a limit of €5m.

- For every 20 goal contributions (goals or assists) Gyokeres achieves, Arsenal will pay €500k, up to a limit of €1m.

- For every seasonal qualification for the Champions League league phase, Arsenal will pay €1m, up to a limit of €4m.

Gyokreres is set to complete his medical over the weekend and the club will make an official announcement about the signing next week.