Arsenal are close to reaching a verbal agreement with Sporting CP striker Viktor Gyökeres, multiple reports from France and Portugal said on 1 July. The 27-year-old Sweden international, who hit 54 goals in all competitions last season, has made joining the Premier League runners-up his priority. Talks now centre on price. Sporting president Frederico Varandas has ruled out accepting the €60 million plus €10 million add-ons figure discussed earlier in the summer and continues to point to the player’s €100 million release clause. A mechanism that took effect on 1 July obliges Sporting to pay the player’s agent 10 percent of any offer worth at least €60 million that the club turns down, adding pressure to find a compromise. Gyökeres has hardened his stance, informing Sporting he will skip the first day of pre-season in protest at what he views as broken promises over a transfer, according to Portuguese daily Record. Sporting’s negotiating position has been strengthened by a separate €55 million agreement to sell defender Ousmane Diomandé to Crystal Palace, but Arsenal sporting director Andrea Berta is said to be confident of closing a deal for a fee just under the widely quoted €70 million level. While Gyökeres remains the club’s main target, Arsenal continue to explore other attacking options, including Monaco’s Maghnes Akliouche, valued at about €70 million, and Chelsea winger Noni Madueke, for whom no formal bid has yet been lodged.