Following a day of intensive talks in London between Arsenal and Viktor Gyökeres' representatives, significant disagreement has emerged over add-on clauses in the past few hours, with conflicting claims resurfacing:
On one side, Sporting CP is demanding that the full €10 million in add-on clauses be easily achievable. Put simply, Sporting insists on a fully guaranteed €80 million package (€73.5 million base fee plus the €10 million add-ons).
Arsenal, however, has rejected this demand and believes Sporting CP is backtracking on previous agreements.
Against this backdrop, sources close to Sporting CP claim that the club’s requirement has always been clear: the entire €10 million in add-ons must be easily achievable (or relatively so).
Sporting CP alleges that Arsenal has insisted only €3 million of the add-ons can be easily met, with the remaining €7 million unfeasible.
Other parties involved in the deal flatly deny this, adding that Arsenal’s current offer actually includes €5 million in easily achievable add-ons and €5 million in harder-to-reach ones, while Sporting CP is standing firm on its demand for the full €10 million to be easily attainable.
Despite numerous misreports, it is clear that Gyökeres’ transfer is in real danger of collapsing due to the stalemate.
Yesterday, all possibilities hung in the balance, but the prevailing view is that the deal could indeed fall through, which would prompt agent Hasan Çetinkaya and the player himself to intervene publicly.
Other details remain unchanged: even after Gyökeres agreed to waive part of his annual salary at Arsenal (€2 million per year), his agent agreed to forgo €6.5-7 million in commission, and Sporting CP accepted a substantial disciplinary fine, the deal remains unsigned.
