Rio Ferdinand warns Ivan Toney he "won't last long" at Arsenal after transfer comments

Rio Ferdinand has told Ivan Toney that he will cause himself problems if he lets his ego get the better of him should he join Arsenal in the summer.

The Brentford striker, 27, was heavily linked with a move to the Gunners ahead of the January transfer window and is likely to attract further interest in the summer given he will have just one year remaining on his current contract.

Toney had a tongue-in-cheek response to comments from Thomas Frank earlier this week after the Bees boss admitted it was likely Brentford would sell their star man in the summer. Toney quipped: "I see that [Frank's comments] as he doesn't want me!

"The manager has said what he's said but I can't make clubs come and get me. I've just got to keep doing what I do and that's score goals. What will be will be."

And while Ferdinand feels people have taken Toney's comments the wrong way, he's warned the former Newcastle man that big egos won't be tolerated by the Premier League's elite - both on and off the field.

Speaking on his Five podcast, Ferdinand said of Toney's comments: "He said it in jest! I don’t think he would move like that [with a big ego]. I would be surprised. Remember, he has never played for a big club. He’s going to go there and he will have to be respectful and know where he is in the pecking order.

"There are some big players in there. Do you think he is going to come with that chat about Mikel Arteta when you have Declan Rice, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes, Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Jesus?"

When it was then put to Ferdinand that Toney's confidence could, in fact, lead him to act in the same manner at one of the Premier League's top clubs, the former Manchester United man sent the sought after striker an ominous warning.

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