Sporting sensation Viktor Gyokeres has picked out former Manchester United forwards Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Cristiano Ronaldo as the two players he most ‘looked up to’ while growing up.
Gyokeres, 26, has established himself as one of European football’s most sought-after players with his extraordinary goalscoring exploits at Sporting over the last two seasons following a move from Coventry City.
Across an eye-catching debut campaign in Lisbon, Gyokeres netted 29 times in 33 league games to help Sporting win their 20th Primeira Liga title.
And the prolific Sweden international has picked up where he left off this term, scoring 25 goals in 22 games for the Portuguese champions in all competitions.
Needless to say, Gyokeres’ lightning form has caught the attention of a host of top clubs across Europe, with the likes of Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Manchester City and Arsenal all linked in recent months.
Manchester United are also firmly in the race for Gyokeres and Ruben Amorim’s recent switch from Sporting to Old Trafford has only fueled speculation that the attacker could soon follow suit.
It may therefore be of interest to United that Gyokeres hopes to do ‘similar things on the pitch’ to two iconic players that lit up the Theatre of Dreams in recent years.
‘The players I looked up to were Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Cristiano Ronaldo,’ Gyokeres told UEFA.com ahead of Sporting’s Champions League clash with Club Brugge.
‘It’s about how they performed on the pitch, they went the extra mile which impressed me.
‘I wanted to do similar things on the pitch.’
Gyokeres believes his knack of being in the right place at the right time is among his ‘three best qualities’.
‘In today’s football you need to be physically strong, have a knack for scoring as well as communicating and performing well with other team-mates,’ he added.
‘My three best qualities are my physique, finishing and that I’m often in the right place to score.’
Gyokeres does not take outside noise ‘too seriously’ and tries to avoid comparing himself to other top forwards in the game.
‘When you receive negative criticism, you have to take it with a pinch of salt and not take it too seriously,’ he continued.
‘You shouldn’t get ahead of yourself when you’re doing well and you don’t need to be pushed down when it goes badly.
‘You just try and stay at a stable level without taking too much notice.’
Gyokeres went on: ‘If I were to give advice to other forwards then it would be that you shouldn’t compare yourself to others.
‘It doesn’t matter if you’re playing for a big club at the same age, you should keep working and focus on yourself.
‘Time flies if you do things right.’
Reports last month suggested Gyokeres was angling towards a move to Old Trafford and ‘had his heart set’ on playing for the Red Devils next season.
Sporting have grown increasingly resigned to losing Gyokeres and would be willing to accept a bid of £63million for their prized possession next summer.
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