€70m Viktor Gyokeres linked but should Liverpool shop in Portugal again?

Liverpool have been linked with Viktor Gyokeres ahead of the 2025 summer transfer window. If reports from Portugal are to believed, the Swedish striker could be sold by Sporting CP for €70 million this summer.

With Arne Slot in need of a new starting striker - and Liverpool preparing an overhaul of their forward line - the 26-year-old has been suggested as the man to solve their problems in front of goal.

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His Sporting goal record is out of this world; 83 goals (and 25 assists) in only 91 matches overall. The Swede also has a strong track record of keeping fit during his two seasons in the Portuguese Primeira Liga.

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But is this a fight Liverpool should contest?

First off, it’s notoriously difficult to predict how an outbound player from the Portuguese leagues will fare once they move up in the world.

Consider the most expensive sale ever from Portugal as a starting point - Joao Felix - whose struggles throughout his career in the Premier League and elsewhere have been well documented.

Let’s have a look at the other players on the top 10 sales list.

No guarantees on Portuguese league players

The jury is still very much out on Enzo Fernandez following his €100m+ transfer to Chelsea. The likes of Ruben Dias and Bruno Fernandes have admittedly been transfer hits since joining the Premier League.

Others, such as Goncalo Ramos and Manuel Ugarte struggled to adapt to life at Paris Saint-Germain whereas Joao Neves does indeed look like he is going to be a hit.

Nico Gonzalez has only just made the transition while the transfer of Otavio to the Saudi Pro League can be considered irrelevant in this conversation.

The other player in the top 10 is Darwin Nunez.

Signed from Benfica for a fee of up to €85m by Liverpool back in 2022, he hasn’t lived up to expectations and his career at Anfield appears over for one reason or another.

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Of the most expensive strikers to LEAVE Portugal for another league in fact, only Radamel Falcao to Atletico Madrid could be considered a bonafide hit.

The rest veer from the irrelevant - such as Hulk to Zenit and Marcos Leonardo to Al Hilal - to the unsuccessful - Fabio Silva, Andre Silva and Jackson Martinez.

Others are still unproven - like Evanilson to Bournemouth and we will add Goncalo Ramos to this category - while Raul Jimenez has fared decently in his Premier League career.

In short, buying an expensive striker from Portugal doesn’t always work out.

Liverpool's IFFY track record in Portugal

The only other player signed from the Portuguese league in the current Liverpool squad is Luis Diaz, who was also signed in 2022 by Jurgen Klopp for around €45m.

Both he and Nunez have gone on to prove that their “hot streaks” in Portugal - which preceded moves to Liverpool - were unsustainable. So the warning signs are there.

And what about the other players we’ve signed from Portugal?

Lazar Markovic - a transfer bust. Tiago Ilori - remember him? Raul Meireles - admittedly a decent acquisition but only lasted one season before submitting a transfer request.

However, the above shouldn’t put Liverpool off recruitment in Portugal.

Liverpool LOCKED OUT

Looking through the current Portugal senior lineup, there are plenty of players at other clubs that the Reds could certainly use.

The likes of Francisco Conceicao, Goncalo Inacio and Nuno Tavares could all solve problems at Anfield this summer and all took their first steps in Portugal.

And for the best evidence of recruitment from the Portuguese leagues, look at PSG.

Not only have they managed to snaffle Joao Neves from under Liverpool’s noses but they also feature Vitinha and Nuno Mendes. Those two were acquired for reasonable fees from Porto and Sporting respectively and have gone on to become some of the best in the world in their respective positions.

The problem there is Liverpool are locked out of that market to an extent.

With Luis Campos as sporting director - and Jorge Mendes’ Gestifute agency representing several of PSG’s top stars - it looks like that is going to be a priority destination for prime Portuguese talents for now at least.

Gyokeres - even though his goal record is formidable - looks a risk.

He has grown massively as a player since his Brighton days for sure but scoring goals in Portugal and doing it in the Premier League are very different things as Nunez proves.

It’s the seventh-best league in Europe based on the current UEFA coefficient ranking. The Premier League is the best. That’s a hell of a jump.

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Given the scale of the operation it might be worth sitting this one out. But perhaps the time has come to cosy up to Mendes - or even attempt to lure Campos to Anfield. There is world-class talent in Portugal but it’s not a market the club are currently proficient in.

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