You would be hard-pressed to name a better striker in Europe right now than Viktor Gyokeres.

Fresh from scoring a hat-trick in Sporting Lisbon's 4-1 win over Manchester City in the Champions League earlier this month, he scored four goals in Sweden's 6-0 demolition of Azerbaijan in the UEFA Nations League on Tuesday night.

The 26-year-old, for club and country combined, has now scored 32 goals in just 24 appearances this season. For comparison, Erling Haaland, who is widely considered as the world's best marksman, has 22 goals so far this season.

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Gyokeres, who is being strongly linked with a move to Manchester United amid the club's recent raid on Sporting for Ruben Amorim, is producing numbers that are in danger of becoming somewhat freakish. He is threatening to break into the same bracket as Haaland as a goalscoring menace.

Gyokeres, who has refused to rule out the possibility of leaving Sporting next summer, has gone from strength-to-strength since joining the Portuguese club from Coventry City in July 2023. He joined them in a deal worth around £20million after scoring 22 goals and registering 12 assists in his final season at the Championship club.

After losing the play-off final at the end of the 2022/23 season, Coventry were resigned to losing him. He was the best striker in England outside of the Premier League that season and their chances of keeping him were quashed after losing to Luton Town at Wembley.

Previously of Brighton & Hove Albion, the expectation was Gyokeres would return to the Premier League. He was linked with a flurry of clubs but nothing ever came to fruition.

Instead, he sealed a left-field move to Sporting, who were hand-picked by Gyokeres because, according to his agent, he was convinced Amorim would turn him into an even better player. He wasn't wrong, was he?

He scored 43 goals in 50 appearances across all competitions last season, as well as registering 15 assists. Five of his 43 goals were plundered nine Europa League appearances, meaning he took his form onto the European stage for the first time.

The Swede has picked up from where he left off so far this term, too, scoring 23 goals in 18 appearances in Sporting colours. Playing in the Champions League for the very first time in his career, he has five goals in four games, making him the competition's joint-top leading goalscorer alongside the likes of Harry Kane and Robert Lewandowski.

If Gyokeres' club form was not already enough to force clubs to sit up and take note of him, his tally of five goals and one assist in two appearances for Sweden during the November international break most definitely should have.

The Nations League league phase has drawn to a close with Gyokeres at the top of the scoring charts with nine goals in six games. His numbers are becoming nothing short of ridiculous.

Demonstrating he can deliver the goods consistently at a higher level than the Championship, United should be ruing not moving for him ahead of his move to Sporting. I wrote back in January that United had missed a trick.

Following the appointment of Amorim earlier this month, reports connecting United with a move for Gyokeres have soared - and they will continue to soar the more goals he scores. He has produced the best football of his career under the Portuguese chief and the prospect of them being reunited at Old Trafford is a scenario United supporters are dreaming of.

United invested an initial fee of £64m in Rasmus Hojlund in August 2023 and he is yet to prove that can become the reliable source of goals United need. In his defence, however, injuries have limited his progress this season.

Joshua Zirkzee is not a natural goalscorer, highlighted by his tally of just one goal so far this term, meaning United do not currently have a player they can lean on to offer them the guarantee of goals.

It may be argued that Gyokeres is yet to prove himself in one of Europe's top five leagues, but you cannot ignore the fact he is currently the joint-top leading goalscorer in Europe's premier club competition.

Like Haaland, his numbers are becoming borderline insane, with him now expected to score every time he steps on the pitch. He has 58 goals in 54 games for club and country in 2024.

The more goals he scores, the greater the demand for his signature will become. United, however, have a secret weapon nobody else can offer: Amorim.

United should chuck everything they possibly can at trying to reunite the pair at Old Trafford next summer.