Who is Viktor Gyökeres, the world’s top scorer in 2024

Viktor Gyökeres is the most prolific centre forward in world Football at present. The Swede has risen to the top of the list of top global marksmen having bagged 37 goals in 257 days and surpasses Shanghai Port striker Wu Lei (on 35) with Sporting Cristal’s Martín Cauteruccio on 31 for the year to date.

Viktor Gyökeres

• Sp. Portugal
• delantero
• Suecia

Statistics

The forward also has found the target more times this calendar year than the likes of Erling Haaland (31), Kylian Mbappé and Cristiano Ronaldo who are both on 28 goals for 2024.

Following his two Nations League goals for Sweden during the international break, the 26-year-old was on target once again for his club side Sporting as they secured a fifth win on Friday night against Arouca to make it five wins from five to top the Liga Portugal table on 15 points with the striker bagging his eighth league goal (almost 45% of Sporting’s 19 total).

Despite a surge of interest for the Swede towards the end of last season, the striker and indeed in-demand head coach Ruben Amorim both opted to stay with the Jose Avalade club as they secured the 2023-24 Portuguese league title and a berth in the newly expanded 36 team Champions League where the green and white side will certainly be one of the tournament dark horses.

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Journeyman

Gyokeres was signed from Sweden by Brighton moving to the English south coast at the age of 19. He never played in the Premier League with the Seagulls and spent time on loan with the likes of St. Pauli, Swansea and Coventry eventually moving to the Midlands side in 2021 when Brighton decided to sell him to Coventry for one million euros.

The Swede’s goals almost helped the Sky Blues secure a place in the Premier League but a heartbreaking playoff defeat at the hands of Luton saw the Stockholm born striker move to Sporting who signed him in the summer of 2023 for a fee of 21 million euro.

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Manchester City, Arsenal, RB Leipzig, Lille, PSV Eindhoven, Bologna, Sturm Graz and Brugge are Sporting’s rivals in the 2024-25 Champions League and it feels inevitable that the name of Viktor Gyökeres will generate headlines should he maintain his apparent quench for finding the net that will inevitably see him move higher on the radar of big European clubs.