Brentford slap eye-watering price tag on Toney in bid to block Arsenal transfer
Arsenal will reportedly need to splash out £100million to bring Ivan Toney in the club in the January despite the striker currently serving an eight-month ban.
Only Erling Haaland and Harry Kane scored more goals than Toney in the 2022-23 Premier League season, with the Brentford forward finishing the campaign having struck 20 times. His form earned him a first international cap, replacing Kane in England's win over Ukraine in March.
However, in May his career was put on hold after learning his fate for 232 breaches of the FA's betting rules. Having initially been charged in December 2022, which he attributes to scuppering his hopes of going to the World Cup, the 27-year-old was banned from football for eight months.
Having watched the 2023-24 domestic season from the stands so far, Toney will be eligible to play again on January 17. Coincidentally, his return will come in the middle of the next transfer window, amid links to a switch to title-chasing Arsenal.
Injury problems to lead striker Gabriel Jesus, supplemented by Toney publicly admitting his admiration for the Gunners, has only served to exacerbate such rumours. But according to Sky Sports News , Mikel Arteta will have to persuade his owners to match the record £100m sum they paid for Declan Rice in the summer, which signified a new club record.
A suggested fee in the region of £60m has reportedly been met with a scathing response by Brentford chiefs. And that follows on from manager Thomas Frank echoing similar sentiments in the summer, when asked what he believed Toney was worth.
"£100million plus?" he replied to reporters. "What would you pay for a striker that guarantees you 20-plus goals? And this is 20 goals for a mid-table club. What can he do in a bigger
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