Brentford striker Ivan Toney has made it no secret that he wants a move at the end of the season. Reports now suggest the England international is interested in joining Manchester United.
Toney has made several podcast appearances in the past year, while he served an eight-month ban for breaching FA betting rules, during which the 27-year-old openly flirted with the idea of moving to a bigger club.
Now it seems United have emerged as a potential dark horse in the race for Toney’s signature after a campaign that saw the Reds struggle in front of goal.
Toney had been heavily linked with a switch to Arsenal.
According to The Sun, Toney is prepared to accept terms of £250,000-per-week at United.
This means the Brentford star will pocket a greater salary than United captain Bruno Fernandes, should he receive the deal mentioned above. It would be quite a step up from his current pay package of £36,000-per-week at Brentford; his contract runs until 2025.
Ivan Toney come and get me plea
It would be fair to say Toney has reached the stage of his career that it’s a case of now or never for him to secure a switch to a top club.
That said, I don’t believe it looks good when you see a player openly discuss a transfer. It sounds disrespectful to his current employees, their fans and his team-mates looking to finish the season strongly.
Speaking to Sky Sports in January, Toney issued a come and get me plea: “You can never predict when is the right time to move elsewhere.
“But I think it’s obvious I would like to play for a top club – everybody wants to play for top clubs that are fighting for titles.
“Whether it’s this January that is the right time 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.”
United often over-pay new signings and reward them before they’ve done anything for the club. This is something that needs to be addressed by Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos team.
Brentford manager Thomas Frank dismissed that Toney’s price tag had been lowered from £100m to £40m.
Frank said (via ESPN): “Normally I don’t go into these price labels, but I would say £30-40m is very cheap for a 20-goal goalscorer in the Premier League.”
The report adds that the initial £100m fee caused Arsenal and Chelsea to cool their interest in Toney, potentially scuppering a route out of Brentford for the striker.
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