Tuesday night’s Champions League action reminded Wolves of what they so nearly had.
Match day four of the tournament saw Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City dismantled by Sporting CP.
In Ruben Amorim’s last game in charge before his Premier League move, Sporting beat City 4-1, with a lot of help coming from Viktor Gyokeres.
The Swedish striker let Erling Haaland know who’s boss with a hat-trick, reminding Wolves of the talent they so nearly signed in 2023.
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Why Wolves didn’t sign Viktor Gyokeres
In the summer of 2023, it became clear that Gyokeres would leave Coventry City in search of a new challenge.
Wolves were one of the sides interested in the former Championship forward, who narrowly missed out on promotion with the Sky Blues.
The Old Gold made an approach for Gyokeres however, it was Sporting CP who secured his signature by the end of the summer, paying around £21m for the Sweden international.
Missing out on the talisman will go down as one of Wolves’ biggest transfer blunders and the reason why the Midlands club failed to sign the striker is all the more painful.
Relayed by Sport Witness, Portuguese media explained how Sporting ‘took advantage’ of Wolves in the moment to secure Gyokeres’ signature.
The reason why Wolves failed to sign the striker is due to Jeff Shi being out of the country.
It was claimed that Wolves had presented the ‘best offer’ for the player but, the deal dragged at the finalisation stage due to Shi not being around to release the funds.
Sporting saw a gap and signed the forward, who has since scored 66 goals in 67 appearances for the Lions.
Gyokeres could have changed everything
It’s not often that one signing can have such an impact, with Gyokeres leading Sporting to a league title in his first season.
While the Sweden international might not have led Wolves to Premier League glory, there’s a good chance that the Old Gold would not be in the situation they are now with a constant flow of goals on side.
The former Wolves target made Man City look like schoolboys on match day four of the Champions League, something very few in the top flight manage.
Scoring three on the night lit Gyokeres’ name up in lights, violently reminding those at Molineux what could have been.