Yet another saga — Sporting is playing with Arsenal’s nerves over Gyokeres

Every transfer window has its own "transfer saga"—a player who’s linked for months with one or more clubs, and sometimes ends up not moving at all. That could very well be the case this summer with Viktor Gyokeres, Sporting Lisbon, and Arsenal.

There’s been talk for a while that the Swedish striker, who exploded last season with 54 goals and 13 assists in 52 appearances for the Green and Whites, might end up in London under Mikel Arteta. Arsenal is in dire need of a striker of his caliber, and the club seemed ready to finally open the wallet for a major signing.

Negotiations with Sporting began some time ago, and after much back-and-forth, it appeared everything was finally agreed: Viktor Gyokeres would join Arsenal for a fixed fee of 63 million, with an additional potential 10 million in bonuses.

The Swedish international’s agent, Hasan Cetinkaya, even agreed to a lower-than-usual commission—under 10%—which helped convince the Portuguese club to slightly reduce their demands for the fixed fee. However, it now appears that even that wasn’t enough to finalize the deal.

In fact, according to the Portuguese outlet Record, the whole transfer could easily collapse. Reportedly, Sporting is unhappy with the structure of the 10 million in bonuses. The Lions want the conditions for those bonuses to be easily achievable, while Arsenal seems to have a different idea and is unwilling to "gift" that amount on top of the already hefty fee.

There's no way back from this point: Gyokeres ignores Sporting pre-season

The last round of negotiations took place on Monday, but it appears the talks aren’t over yet. The outlet also mentions that Gyokeres’ agent—and possibly the player himself—could make a public statement later today.