'A different league' - Ruben Amorim fires warning to Viktor Gyokeres as Man Utd boss prepares to meet his former player in showdown with Arsenal

Gyokeres fired Amorim's Sporting CP to the Portuguese title in 2023-24 and then scored 39 league goals last season as his side retained their crown. United were linked with the Sweden striker due to his previous relationship with Amorim but he chose to join Arsenal for £63.5m. And he will come up against his former boss on Sunday when Arsenal visit United on the opening weekend of the Premier League season.

Gyokeres struggled to catch fire in his first stint in English football after joining Brighton & Hove Albion's academy but he had more success at Coventry in the Championship, moving to Sporting in the summer of 2023 on the back of scoring 21 goals in the Championship. Amorim made it clear that Gyokeres will have to adapt to the increased physicality in the Premier League.

"It is a different league, the physicality is different," Amorim told a press conference. "In Sporting they have a very good group of scouts because they live from that, he is a very good player, he is going to give different characteristics. It is going be different if we sign Viktor or [Kai] Havertz but it is not a surprise to see Viktor in a big club."

Arsenal were heavily linked with new United striker Benjamin Sesko before they completed the deal for Gyokeres, with the Gunners' new sporting director Andrea Berta credited with them changing course.

Amorim said that Sesko was ready to start against Arsenal and he confirmed that goalkeeper Andre Onana had recovered from the hamstring injury which saw him miss the whole pre-season campaign. Joshua Zirkzee has also recovered from injury in time to face the Gunners but defenders Lisandro Martinez and Noussair Mazraoui are unavailable.