Ivan Toney is set to return to action for Brentford after his eight-month ban but with Chelsea and Arsenal interested in him, the striker could be playing for a new club on his comeback in January.
Arsenal and recently Chelsea have been keeping a close eye on the striker’s progress and as per reports both of them will try and sign the England international despite Brentford asking for around £100m for the 27-year-old.
Toney joined the Bees in 2020 and after securing qualification to the Premier League, the 27-year-old has done really well. Despite missing for so many months, the striker has netted 32 goals and provided 9 assists in just 68 league matches. Brentford obviously do not want to lose him during the middle of the season but if a club is willing to meet their financial demands they will not stand in the way.
Are Chelsea no longer interested in Ivan Toney?
The first report comes from journalist Ben Jacobs via GIVEMESPORT, who is suggesting that Chelsea are not keen to make a move for Toney in January and that’s primarily because of his high price tag. This would mean that Pochettino is happy to use Broja and Nicolas Jackson as his main centre-forwards for the rest of the campaign.
However, football london is of the view that Chelsea are very much interested in Ivan Toney and will make a big-money move for him in January.
The Sun’s story is closer to football london as they are claiming that Chelsea and Arsenal will go after Toney but the Blues fear that the striker will choose Arsenal over them.
It’s clear there are contrasting stories and if Chelsea back off then it’s great news for Arsenal but it’s hard to believe that Poch is going to rely on just Nicolas Jackson for the remainder of the season. The experts believe Brentford will accept around £80 million which is a very steep price but the Blues do need an elite striker if they want to get back into Europe.
Arsenal might be the slight favourites to sign Ivan Toney but it will be very hard for them to spend so much money during the middle of the season. They paid a lot of money to sign Declan Rice during the summer and we doubt if their owners will be willing to splurge another £80-100 million after just six months.
Toney is said to be keen to play under Mikel Arteta and despite the contrasting reports, we are confident Chelsea will not back off without a fight.
