Ivan Toney ready to push for January transfer after Arsenal & Chelsea hold talks
- Toney will return from his gambling ban in January
- Arsenal & Chelsea have both held talks with striker's representatives
- Brentford's asking price understood to have shocked Toney
Ivan Toney is ready to push for a January transfer and has confirmed to current employers Brentford that he would like to leave once the winter window opens, 90min understands.
The striker remains sidelined due to his ban for gambling but is set to return to competitive action in January, when a number of the Premier League's top sides could test Brentford's resolve.
Arsenal and Chelsea have both held talks with Toney's representatives and sources have confirmed to 90min that the 27-year-old is ready to try and push through a January transfer away from the Gtech Community Stadium.
Toney will enter the final year-and-a-half of his current contract in January, leaving Brentford with limited time to cash in on the striker at his full value.
Brentford are prepared to demand in excess of £80m to part ways with Toney, although both Arsenal and Chelsea have explored using players as part of the deal to try and drive down the final cost.
Toney is understood to be shocked by Brentford's asking price and is now prepared to push to try and convince his current club to let him leave in January.
Brentford boss Thomas Frank admitted earlier this season that Toney could be sold "for the right price" but warned suitors that players of his quality do not come cheap.
"I think every club in the world are a selling club except five or six clubs. We are a selling club, if the right price is there," Frank said on Sky Sports.
"I think if it's the right time for the player to go, from my perspective that’s not my decision that would be Phil [Giles, director of football] or Matthew [Benham, Brentford's owner] in the end, then I think if they have developed well with us, been on the journey, and now they're proven good enough to go to the top clubs, then I think it's the right thing, if it's the right price.
"I understand why there are a lot of rumours out there about [Toney]. For me he's one of the best strikers, as a striker No.9, I don't see many out there who is better in the world than him, of course you have [Harry] Kane, [Robert] Lewandowski, [Erling] Haaland and these types, but not many.
"He scored 20 goals in the Premier League last year, in, of course, a very good Brentford side but of course we are not creating as many chances as the top six or seven teams.
"So imagine him in a top team, he'd easily score 20, 25 goals, for me. I think he's composed, he's a good finisher, top mentality, so I understand why clubs are looking at him."
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