Rio Ferdinand wonders how Viktor Gyokeres did not get Premier ...
Premier League clubs "must be scratching their heads" as to how they let Viktor Gyokeres "get away" in his move to Sporting, TNT Sports expert Rio Ferdinand said.
Gyokeres joined Sporting in 2023 after scoring 22 goals for Coventry in the Championship, having joined permanently from Brighton & Hove Albion in 2021 after difficult loan spells with St Pauli and Swansea.
And the Swedish forward scored 43 goals in his debut season under Ruben Amorim. He has already added another 23 in the current campaign, proving instrumental for a Sporting side that clinched their 15th victory in their last 16 matches with a heavy win over City.
Ferdinand questioned how Premier League clubs let the forward "get away" after he had already impressed in the English football pyramid.
"The recruitment teams in all of the clubs in the Premier League must be scratching their heads, to think 'how did we let him get away?'" the TNT Sports expert said.
"He hasn't had a conventional route, his route to the top hasn't been straightforward.
"He was at Brighton, went on loan to Swansea, sold to Coventry, does well and then goes to Sporting.
"He's had a journey where he's had to build himself and create what he is now. You think to yourself how has he been allowed to get out.
"All of a sudden, we're seeing what he's got now, he's grown into what he is, confidence, the stature he has. Physicality, might have had to wait for that to come."
Gyokeres spurned an early opportunity to cancel out Phil Foden's early opener, but responded on 38 minutes as he raced through City's backline to squeeze an effort past Ederson.
The Sporting striker then netted two second-half penalties to supplement Maximiliano Araujo's goal immediately after the break, condemning Pep Guardiola's side to their third consecutive defeat in Amorim's last home match in charge of the Portuguese side.
"Today, a few times on the halfway line, [he was] running in on goal, blowing players away, holding people off.
"It's going to be interesting. Managers want to leave clubs and there's always one or two players where they're thinking that guy knows how I play. Everyone can feed off him maybe.
"Who is that guy going to be? If he's going to take someone from Sporting, after the way this guy has been playing in the last few weeks, 11 [goals] in five games, is he going to be the number one target for the new manager at Man United?"
Sporting's emphatic victory over City put them second in the Champions League standings, two points behind Liverpool - who maintained their perfect record with a 4-0 hammering of Bayer Leverkusen.
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