Fabrizio Romano has offered some insight into why Brentford now feel able to ask for as much as £90-100million for star player Ivan Toney amid interest from the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea.
Toney has shone for Brentford and Romano has previously spoken to CaughtOffside about the Gunners and the Blues being interested in the England international, who looks ready to make the step up to a bigger club.
Speaking again to CaughtOffside for the latest edition of his exclusive Daily Briefing column, Romano explained that one factor in Brentford’s favour in all this is that there is a lack of top quality centre-forwards available on the market at the moment.
This means Brentford have gone from valuing Toney at more like £60-65m, to feeling emboldened to ask for almost £100m, as the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea might not have too many other alternatives to turn to.
Discussing the latest on Toney’s future, Romano said: “I think there is a very good chance for Ivan Toney to stay at Brentford, honestly. This is the feeling, and only if they receive a really important proposal could this change.
“Rumours started in November about an asking price of around £60-65m, but then Brentford understood that there are no other top strikers available on the market, and so now the idea of Brentford is something more like £90-100m for Toney this January.
“I don’t think it’s going to be easy, and any teams interested in Toney might have to be creative, so maybe a loan deal, but only if there is an obligation to buy. So, only if there is a guaranteed sale of Toney, and only for big money, otherwise I think he is going to stay at the club and then probably leave in the summer transfer window.
“The idea of the player himself remains to leave and to try a top club experience. Still, he’s not in a rush to leave Brentford now, so he could wait until the summer transfer window.”
Toney clearly still wants a big move, and it might be that that can help push things along, but it currently looks unlikely that Arsenal or Chelsea will be able to get Toney this January, with Romano clearly sounding more convinced now that there’s an increased chance of the 27-year-old staying with his current club.
This could be a big blow for the London giants, with Arsenal in need of more of a goal threat to get them back in the title race, while Chelsea surely need an upgrade on Nicolas Jackson to climb up from mid-table.