Manchester United have a transfer objective that has become impossible to ignore

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