8 months ago
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Chelsea, Tottenham and West Ham are in a battle to sign Ivan Toney after Mikel Arteta cooled Arsenal’s interest in the Brentford and England striker.
Toney, 28, is expected to leave Brentford this summer regardless of whether the Bees avoid relegation to the Championship.
Thomas Frank’s side have only won seven of their 29 Premier League fixtures this season to sit 15th – five points above the drop zone – with nine games remaining.
Toney missed the first-half of the 2023-24 campaign after being found guilty of 232 breaches of the FA’s betting rules and receiving an eight-month ban.
Since returning to action, the striker has scored four goals in 10 matches but none since mid-February, with Brentford amassing just one point from a possible 18 in that time to drop even closer to the danger zone.
Toney has made no secret of his desire to leave Brentford at some stage and is believed to favour a move to a fellow Premier League club, with London rivals Chelsea, Tottenham and West Ham all plotting summer moves.
Arsenal have been repeatedly linked with a move for Toney but The Sun say their interest has cooled in recent weeks as Arteta is unconvinced the forward is the best fit for his side’s system.
Chelsea are keen to bring Toney to Stamford Bridge as they are still struggling in front of goal despite spending over £1billion on new signings under Todd Boehly.
The Blues have endured another disappointing season – languishing in the bottom-half of the table – and most of their goals have come from midfielder Cole Palmer, though £32m summer signing Nicolas Jackson has improved since returning from AFCON, scoring three goals in his last four appearances.
Tottenham have been sharing the goals around since Harry Kane’s surprising departure last summer but will look to bring in a prolific goalscorer to strengthen Ange Postecoglou’s squad ahead of the 2024-25 campaign.
Brentford boss Frank was asked about the speculation around Toney’s future at the club earlier in the month and said: ‘There’s a lot of rumours about a lot of things.
‘I know Ivan very well and he’s focusing on one thing, perform, do everything to help the team, hopefully score few goals and that will be it.’
Ex-Arsenal winger Theo Walcott, meanwhile, has urged his former club to sign Toney and believes the Gunners will already be preparing to spend big on a new No. 9 at the end of the season.
‘I am a big fan of a certain Brentford striker who I won’t name,’ Walcott told BBC Radio Five Live after Arsenal’s Champions League first-leg defeat to Porto.
‘It’s really quite obvious to see there with all the set pieces, Arsenal are a really big team, but if you’ve got someone like that in your team as well.
‘Missing [Gabriel] Jesus tonight as well who is a different sort of No.9, again, there’s no one else to call upon. Kai Havertz is not a striker, I think he’s done really well but I don’t think he’s a standard No.9.
‘That is something I feel that Edu and Mikel will be discussing in the summer, I’m pretty sure about that.
‘I know we’re talking about someone who is not at the club but you play different with certain players up front, I remember playing with [Olivier] Giroud up front I played differently.
‘Having a big man up front, the wingers would bounce it off him, [Bukayo] Saka and [Gabriel] Martinelli would have an absolute field day.’
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