Transfer news guru Fabrizio Romano has named Brentford striker Ivan Toney as an “excellent option” to solve Arsenal’s issues up front, even if it’s likely to be difficult to get a deal done this January.
The England international has had a fine career at Brentford and it would surely make sense for him to now make the step up to a big six club in the Premier League, though of course the Bees are unlikely to let him go without a fight.
Speaking exclusively to CaughtOffside for his Daily Briefing column, Romano admitted that although Toney would be an ideal candidate to strengthen this Arsenal side, he couldn’t see him leaving his current club for anything other than crazy money, making it difficult for the Gunners to get their man this winter.
Arsenal lost to Liverpool yesterday to continue their poor recent run of form, and Mikel Arteta will surely be concerned about his side’s inability to finish the numerous chances they’re creating.
Toney seems like a player who could immediately make an impact for Arsenal in that department, but Romano has seemingly moved to calm Gooners’ expectations.
“Arsenal’s bad luck continues, with the Gunners out of the FA Cup after losing 2-0 at home to Liverpool yesterday. I’ve spoken many times about how much I rate the Arsenal project, and the fine work done by Mikel Arteta and Edu to turn things around at the club, but of course they’ll be disappointed at the moment to keep on dominating games without being able to take their chances,” Romano said.
“As a result, we’re continuing to see a lot of talk about Arsenal signing a striker, but, as Arteta mentioned after the Liverpool game, at the moment there’s nothing concrete – let’s see what happens in the next weeks. We will see what happens, but I think it’s looking very difficult to find a striker at the level Arsenal need in January.
“Of course, we know about the interest in Ivan Toney and he would be an excellent option, but the problem is he is very expensive as Brentford want crazy money or nothing. So, it’s a really complicated situation and for now I have no concrete updates to speak of, let’s see if the situation can change in the next weeks.”