Arsenal are alone in the race to sign a £55 million striker, with their main competition, Chelsea, having cooled their interest.
The Gunners have been linked with strikers in the January market since the end of the last transfer window, with Gabriel Jesus and Eddie Nketiah deemed to be below the required standard by some fans. Both were missing at the weekend: Leandro Trossard scored to keep up his good form.
But with two goals coming from defenders at set-pieces, plenty of analysts have questioned whether Arsenal need more firepower – with one name consistently linked.
According to CaughtOffside, Chelsea have cooled their interest in Ivan Toney, leaving the Gunners with a free run at signing the Brentford man.
Originally thought to be valued at around £100 million, Arsenal could broker a deal in the region of half of that, with the Blues instead honing in on Nigerian hitman Victor Osimhen. The Gunners' cut-price capture of Toney, meanwhile, could see the Gunners bring in a striker described as “world-class” by his manager, with one of Jesus or Nketiah potentially leaving.
“For me as a coach, I don’t want to sell him,” Bees boss Thomas Frank said of his forward in September. “Ivan is a world-class player so why would you sell a world-class player? But it is not up to me to decide.
“I think one of the most difficult things in football is to score goals. For a team or for a player, and there are not many who go past 20 goals in the Premier League. He is a top player so I understand why there is interest but I would like to keep him.”
The 27-year-old is valued at €35m by Transfermarkt.
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