But the Sky Blues' failure to return to the Premier League now appears crucial.

Gyokeres, 25, only has 12 months left on his current three-year City deal.

Swedish TV4's Olof Lundh, one of several journalists who interviewed Gyokeres back in his native Sweden, was spoken to by BBC CWR.

"He told us that when they missed out on the Premier League with Coventry after two really good seasons, that he wants to move away," said Lundh.

"He told us he could have left the club in January but the club wanted him to stay the full season - and he did."

Gyokeres joined the Sky Blues from Brighton in January 2021, initially on loan after spending the first half of the season on loan at Swansea.

He completed his move to Coventry at the end of that campaign for an undisclosed fee.

Gyokeres was the Championship's most productive source of goals in the 2022-23 season, with 12 assists to add to his 21 strikes - but he failed to score in City's three play-off games as they were beaten by Luton in the final on penalties at Wembley.

It has now been reported in Portugal that Sporting Lisbon have made an offer of £12.9m (15m Euros) for Gyokeres, which is short of Coventry's £20m valuation.

But Lundh adds: "He feels that the reports in the Portuguese media that they had a price tag of £20m for him might be a little bit steep when he only has a year left."

Gyokeres, who has scored three times in 13 appearances for his country, sees a move higher up as key to his international ambitions.

"The Swedish coach has a lot of respect for the Championship, but Viktor has tough competition with Alexander Isak and Dejan Kulusevski at Tottenham.

"He wants to move up. The question is should he go to Sporting, where he can play in Europe, or should he go to a club in the Premier League that will fight for survival like Everton? It's a tough decision for him."