‘We’ll see’: Club owner says he will not be forced into selling £20m Leeds target this summer

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Coventry City owner Doug King has insisted Leeds United target Viktor Gyokeres will only leave this summer if their asking price is met.

King was speaking in an interview with the BBC, where he addressed Gyokeres’ comments while on international duty with Sweden, in which he expressed his desire to leave the club.

The 25-year-old publicly claimed that he feels Coventry’s asking price is too high for him, before then asking them to ‘cooperate’ to facilitate a move.

Gyokeres has 12 months left to run on his contract at the Ricoh Arena and Sporting club de Portugal are currently leading the race, with an agreement thought to be close.

Premier League sides including Everton, Brighton and Wolves are also keen on his signature, while Leeds have been long-term admirers.

King says he will not be forced to sell Gyokeres

Gyokeres has clearly looked to pile the pressure on his current club to let him go, but as is within his right, King says the club’s asking price is not going to be decided by the player himself.

He said: “The reality is that it’s early in the window. There is quite a lot of interest in Viktor. He’s clearly made his comments to the press and we’ll see how it unfolds.

“I’m feeling quite calm – and Viktor is still contracted to Coventry City. Sporting Lisbon have been all over the pages. They have been in touch with the club.

“But it isn’t up to Viktor Gyokeres to tell the club he’s going somewhere for 50p. That is not how it works and won’t happen in this situation.

“When a player moves, they have to agree their terms with a different club and the selling club have to agree a compensation package. If both of those don’t work, then nothing will happen.”

If they weren’t already, comments like these seemingly all but rule Leeds out of the race to sign him.

King is clearly holding out for as higher fee as possible despite Gyokeres’ wishes, and selling him to a club in the same division doesn’t feel as though it is something he will do.

Leeds missed their chance to sign him in January.