Arsenal might be about to make the steal of the summer, with new forward joining for £30-40 million.
The Gunners have been the top scorers in the Premier League this season, despite criticisms that they lack a killer No.9. Kai Havertz has stepped up to the plate in recent weeks, with Gabriel Jesus returning from injury of late – but a new striker is still expected this summer.
With plenty of options being touted for over £100m, Arsenal could bring a cut-price star to the Emirates Stadium who's made headlines for good reasons and bad over the past 12 months.
Florian Plettenberg of Sky Germany has posted on X (formerly Twitter) that Arsenal are monitoring Ivan Toney closely ahead of a summer move, with Brentford dropping his price to around £30-40m to invite bids from interested parties.
Rumours over the England international swapping west London for north had gone quiet in recent months, with his attitude questioned. Toney has been outspoken in his desire to leave the Gtech Community Stadium, with a year left on his contract, and has been accused of “disrespecting” the Bees on a number of occasions since returning from a lengthy ban related to gambling offences.
Toney has on a couple of occasions been filmed out in public showing apparent impertinence to his employers, while he infamously upset Arsenal after Brentford's first game in the Premier League, a 2-0 home win over Mikel Arteta's side, when he tweeted, “Nice kick about with the boys.”
The 28-year-old revealed on the Diary of a CEO podcast that he has designs on becoming an Arsenal player one day, sparking rumours of a move, which has so far stalled due to Brentford demanding a record sale for their No.17.
In FourFourTwo's view, it's unlikely that Brentford will accept such a significantly reduced fee – even despite Toney obviously wanting to leave and the weak negotiating position of his contract winding up in 2025. With the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea and Tottenham all said to be interested in the star, a bidding war for Toney is likely this summer.
Even if Brentford can't get the money that they want for Toney, it's not beyond the realms of possibility that they keep him until the expiration of his contract.
Thomas Frank's side suffered hugely without the talismanic striker leading the line during his ban, and the ability to replicate Toney's influence or keep him next season could be the difference between keeping Brentford in the Premier League or not. The London outfit have a policy of selling their players at the peak of their value but may decide that £30-40m isn't enough to consider them selling such an important star.
Toney is worth €50m, according to Transfermarkt.
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