Despite Jurrien Timber’s untimely injury not long after he’d signed for Arsenal, the Gunners continue to do remarkably well under Mikel Arteta, but one thing they seem to be lacking is an out-and-out goalscorer.
Gabriel Jesus does often get amongst the goals, however, according to former ‘super agent,’ Jon Smith, Arsenal should have a centre-forward who is a guarantee of goals.
There aren’t too many of those strikers around of course, but there’s one who is London based that Smith believes would be the right fit, though he’s unsure the Gunners will go for him because of recent history with the player, detailed by football.london.
‘Ivan Toney’s out there so if you join the dots that’s a move that’s in my head, but Arsenal may not fancy him because there’s history there obviously,’ Smith wrote in his exclusive CaughtOffside column.
‘Brentford will probably sell because they’re doing okay without him, he’s only got two years left on his contract, and that means next year it’d be very tempting for him to just hang around and go for free.’
Given that Toney is still in the middle of a ban for betting related issues, Arsenal may be unwilling to take the player in any event.
All clubs will obviously want their players to uphold certain standards though it’s worth looking at the case of former Gunners captain, Tony Adams, as the perfect example of the club offering someone a second chance.
The way in which Arsenal currently play would be perfectly complementary to Toney’s natural game, and with his pace and power to get in behind defences, it really could be a marriage made in heaven.
Whether his previous spat with the club can be forgiven and forgotten won’t be known until such point as they decide, or not, to make a bid for his services.