With just over two weeks left until the summer transfer window closes for business, both Man United and Chelsea would still appear to be on the lookout for another striker.
The Red Devils have Joshua Zirkzee in situ, though are limited in their other options up front, whilst the Blues, often linked with a move for Napoli’s Victor Osimhen (including by Metro and other outlets), still seem nowhere close to tying up that particular deal, and are, at present, left with the possibility of having to utilise Romelu Lukaku.
Chelsea and Man United need to pay £60m to land Toney
It’s understood that the Belgian doesn’t want to play for Chelsea, and the powers that be at Stamford Bridge don’t want him there either, so as of this moment, it’s a hugely unsatisfactory situation all round.
Help may be at hand in the form of Brentford’s England international front man, Ivan Toney, however.
The Bees once valued their striker at £100m (Sky Sports), but just four goals since his return to action in January last season (WhoScored) – all coming in his first five games – has seen that amount plummet.
As The Independent (subscription required) note, however, Brentford are still playing hard ball to an extent, and they won’t allow Toney to leave for anything less than £60m.
That’s quite the game of brinksmanship to be playing at this point, given that the player could walk away for free in a year’s time.
Clearly, by dropping to nearly half of the price they originally wanted to achieve for a Toney sale, the West London outfit will feel that they’ve done more than enough already.
Whether either Chelsea or United bite is another story entirely, and the player’s potential destinations are diminishing by the minute.
Tottenham, who were rumoured at one stage to be the ideal club for Toney to continue plying his trade (talkSPORT), have now bought Dominic Solanke, and there don’t appear to be any other clubs coming forward at this juncture.
Might Brentford have scored a massive own goal…