The transfer of Ivan Toney away from Brentford appears to be a foregone conclusion, despite the fact that the Bees have supported the 27-year-old throughout his ban from football for betting irregularities.
By the time that Toney is able to return to competitive action on January 17 next year, he will have been out of the game for eight months.
It’s believed he has been training with the west Londoners and playing games behind closed doors to keep his fitness up, however, it’s likely to take a few weeks of Premier League games before he’s fully match fit once again.
Any clubs that are interested in taking the England international will need to factor that in to any potential negotiations.
Both Arsenal and Chelsea are credited with an interest in the player, though there have been some surprising developments as far as a January move is concerned.
Fabrizio Romano, speaking to CaughtOffside for his exclusive Daily Briefing column, noted that:
“Brentford will try any way to keep Ivan Toney in January and then sell him in the summer. It’s still not clear if this will be possible but they will try.
“I’m not aware of any precise info on release clauses and a new deal with Brentford as of today.
“As of now, there is only interest from Arsenal and Chelsea, still no concrete negotiations.”
There’s a sense of inevitability that the move will happen at some point soon, though a summer move would now appear to be the most likely scenario.
Whether that will hinder his chances of representing England at Euro 2024 won’t be clear until later in the season when Gareth Southgate assesses his options.
That surely has to be the aim for the player, as well as enjoying a great second half of the 2023/24 campaign.