Former Arsenal star Theo Walcott has made it clear that he’d like to see his old club make a big signing up front this summer, strongly hinting that Ivan Toney is the ideal candidate.
Walcott wasn’t exactly subtle about who he had in mind as he spoke about a player at Brentford who could do an important job for the Gunners, and he made it clear that the arrival could be particularly important to get the best out of wide-forwards Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli.
Walcott had a lot of joy playing alongside Olivier Giroud during their time together at the Emirates Stadium, and it seems the former England international feels Toney could do something similar for Saka and Martinelli.
Toney has been linked with Arsenal on a number of occasions and it’s easy to imagine the 27-year-old being the missing piece of the puzzle in Mikel Arteta’s side, who have lacked a proper number 9 in recent times.
Gabriel Jesus has his qualities, but is too injury prone and more of an all-rounder up front, in something similar to the Roberto Firmino mould, rather than being someone who’s likely to contribute 20-25 goals a season.
Following Arsenal’s defeat to Porto last night, Walcott made it clear he could see Arsenal looking to fix that position in the summer, suggesting Toney would be his preference.
Ivan Toney transfer needed at Arsenal, says Theo Walcott
“I am a big fan of a certain Brentford striker who I won’t name,” Walcott said on BBC 5 Live, as quoted by the Metro.
“Missing Jesus tonight as well who is a different sort of No.9, again, there’s no one else to call upon. Kai Havertz is not a striker, I think he’s done really well but I don’t think he’s a standard No.9.
“That is something I feel that Edu and Mikel will be discussing in the summer, I’m pretty sure about that.
“I know we’re talking about someone who is not at the club but you play different with certain players up front, I remember playing with Giroud up front I played differently.
“Having a big man up front, the wingers would bounce it off him, Saka and Martinelli would have an absolute field day.”
Toney is surely ready to make that move up to a bigger club, but one imagines he’ll have plenty of other suitors as well, so it remains to be seen how easy it would be for AFC to get this deal done.