Hearing what Viktor Gyokeres was like as a child, it is easy to understand how he has become one of the most lethal strikers in Europe.
“He was super dedicated and focused - and he never talked about anything but football,” Bjorn Thuresson, president of Gyokeres’ first club IFK Aspudden-Tellus, tells Standard Sport.
“If we talk about these tennis dads that push their kids, I think it was the other way round with Viktor.
“And he always wanted to go straight to the goal. He was all about finding the quickest way to score and finish, regardless of where he was on the pitch.”
Gyokeres has come a long way since those early days in Stockholm and he goes into Tuesday’s showdown with Arsenal as the Champions League’s joint top scorer after his hat-trick for Sporting against Manchester City three weeks ago.
His numbers this season are remarkable. In 25 games for club and country - he has scored 33 goals – and he is set to be one of the most in-demand players in Europe next summer.
“I don’t like to make comparisons, but I think he has similar aspects with Erling Haaland,” David Novo, executive editor at Portuguese newspaper record, tells Standard Sport.
“He is not at Erling’s level, but he has some characteristics that remind me a little bit of Haaland, in terms of being powerful, physically strong and fast.
“It is true that Gyokeres has higher numbers than Haaland this season, but Haaland has been scoring a lot in the last years in England and Germany. With these two seasons, and the next one in a bigger championship, Gyokeres could raise his level to something similar.”
Little was known of Gyokeres in Portugal before he joined Sporting from Coventry in the summer of 2023 as part of a deal that could eventually be worth around £21million.
Ruben Amorim, who is now in charge of Manchester United, was key to the move as he believed Gyokeres was the perfect striker for his system.
Much is made about the 26-year-old’s ability to score goals, but those in Portugal also talk up his movement and the way he drags defenders around to create space for others.
“Ruben had an important role in Gyokeres’ development and now we will see, without Ruben, how Gyokeres performs,” says Novo. “I am sure he will continue to score and be a goal machine in Portugal.”
The question is, for how much longer?
Gyokeres has been linked with nearly every big club in Europe ahead of next summer’s transfer window, including Arsenal.
He has a €100m (£83m) release clause in his contract, but recent reports claim he could go for less.
“It is common to say that nothing is impossible in football, but it is almost impossible for Gyokeres to remain at Sporting next season,” says Novo.
“I think his destiny is to play in the Premier League, La Liga or the Bundesliga and I think that Sporting will be ready for that, and cannot stop him from a big, big transfer.
“Here in Portugal we saw the links with United, mostly because of Ruben. Having Ruben there might be a huge advantage for United. But, for example, I can see Gyokeres fitting really well at Arsenal.”
A potential £70m move to one of Europe’s big clubs is a world away from where Gyokeres began his journey in Stockholm.
It was there, age 5, that his father decided he should join IFK Aspudden-Tellus, which was one kilometre from the family home.
It is a club of 1,400 players but is run by volunteers and Gyokeres’ father, Stefan, became a coach.
Playing on a gravel pitch, Gyokeres made the first steps of his journey and within a few years he was catching the eye.
“He was noticeable,” says Thuresson. “Other coaches, for other groups, would say: ‘Have you seen that kid? He is damn fast and he scores a lot’. That was obvious at an early age, because he was a little bit stronger and faster than many of his friends.”
There are no records of Gyokeres’ exploits at that age, as at youth level in Sweden there are no league tables until players are older.
“We don’t count until the age of 14, but it was clear he scored the most,” says Thuresson. “I can be quite sure that he kept his own score - that we can be quite certain of.”
Gyokeres stayed at IFK Aspudden-Tellus until he was 16, shunning the usual route of joining a top academy. His father Stefan thought his development would be better served this way, with Gyokeres having to adapt to different teams and levels.
He joined IF Brommapojkarna when he was 16 after the club had spent nearly two years talking to Gyokeres and his family.
It was there, that he was moulded into an out-and-out striker after also spending time playing out wide.
Unsurprisingly given their scouting network, it was Brighton who spotted Gyokeres and they signed him in 2018.
But he failed to get off the ground there and loans at St Pauli, Swansea and Coventry capped off a frustrating period of his career.
A permanent move to Coventry in 2021 was the turning point.
Gyokeres scored 18 goals in his first full season and 22 in his second, as Coventry were beaten in the Championship Play-Off Final.
Gyokeres made the move to Sporting that summer and his recent exploits have made him a huge star in Sweden.
Kids there have taken to mimicking his celebration, which sees him interlock his hands to make a mask and cover the lower half of his face.
“Six months ago the kids didn’t do it, but now they do,” says Thuresson. “It’s a very recent and quick development. The interest in him since the Manchester City hat-trick has been ridiculous.”
For years, no one knew what the celebration was about until Gyokeres posted on Instagram last year and revealed it was in recognition of Bane, a DC Comics supervillain from the Batman series.
“Nobody cared until I put on the mask,” wrote Gyokeres, quoting Tom Hardy’s character, Bane, from The Dark Knight Rises film.
Everyone knows who Gyokeres is now, though, and more heroics against Arsenal will only make the fight for him next summer even greater.
