Fabrizio Romano has spoken exclusively to CaughtOffside about Ivan Toney’s Sky Sports interview for today’s edition of his column for the Daily Briefing.
Romano has spoken a few times now about Toney being a target for the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea, whilst also making it clear that Brentford are not going to let their star striker go unless they receive crazy money for him.
The England international has been superb in the Premier League and a big move makes sense for him, with the player himself now coming out publicly to say that he wants to play at the highest level and win titles.
Still, Romano doesn’t think this will necessarily change anything in terms of a transfer, with the journalist insisting that the 27-year-old is just being honest about his ambitions, with all top players like him wanting to play for the biggest clubs.
“Away from Saudi stories, we’ve had an interview from Ivan Toney that has inevitably attracted a lot of attention,” Romano said. “Following links with Chelsea and Arsenal in recent months, the Brentford striker told Sky Sports: ‘It’s obvious I’d like to play for a top club, everybody wants to play for the top clubs, fighting for titles and these kinds of things. So whether it’s this January for a club to come in and pay the right money, who knows? But my main focus is doing what I do on the pitch and let the background work take care of itself.’
“My feeling is that this is not an attempt by Toney to force a way out of Brentford or to invite offers from other clubs, I think Toney has just been honest.
“It’s pretty obvious – big players want to play for top clubs, but as we always said, Brentford want crazy money for their star striker, or nothing. Despite Toney’s public quotes, there are no changes on this story so far.”
Arsenal and Chelsea could do with a striker like Toney after both sides’ struggles in front of goal this season, but it may still be a bit ambitious for them to get this deal done, especially in the middle of the season.