Viktor Gyokeres makes feelings clear about Man United duo amid transfer link

Viktor Gyokeres has revealed former Manchester United duo Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic are the two players that inspired him the most growing up.

The Sporting Clube de Portugal striker has established himself as one of Europe's exciting and most sought-after players following a sensational debut season with the Portuguese team. He recorded 43 goals in 50 appearances for the Lions and bagged 15 assists in the 2023/24 season.

This term, he's on track to surpass those statistics, having already netted 25 times in just 23 games in all competitions. As a result, the Swede has attracted interest from the likes of Barcelona, Bayern Munich and the Premier League including United.

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Since Ruben Amorim's arrival at Old Trafford, that has only fuelled more speculation about a possible reunion. However, one thing that will excite fans further is that Gyokeres revealed the two iconic players were the ones who he looked up to growing up.

"The players I looked up to were Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Cristiano Ronaldo," Gyokeres told UEFA.com. "It’s about how they performed on the pitch, they went the extra mile which impressed me.

"I wanted to do similar things on the pitch. In today’s football you need to be physically strong, have a knack for scoring as well as communicating and performing well with other team-mates. My three best qualities are my physique, finishing and that I’m often in the right place to score."

When quizzed about the outside noise, he added: "When you receive negative criticism, you have to take it with a pinch of salt and not take it too seriously. You shouldn’t get ahead of yourself when you’re doing well and you don’t need to be pushed down when it goes badly.

"You just try and stay at a stable level without taking too much notice. If I were to give advice to other forwards then it would be that you shouldn’t compare yourself to others. It doesn’t matter if you’re playing for a big club at the same age, you should keep working and focus on yourself. Time flies if you do things right."