Thomas Frank remains coy on Ivan Toney’s future at Brentford amid Chelsea and Arsenal transfer links

Brentford boss Thomas Frank has admitted he is 'not even thinking' about a potential Ivan Toney departure in January.

The striker remains absent from the Bees due to his eight-month ban for breaching the Football Association's betting rules.

Toney was allowed to make a return to training last week after serving the first half of his suspension.

talkSPORT understands that amid their struggles in front of goal, Chelsea could make a move for him in the January transfer window.

Arsenal are also said to be keen on signing the 27-year-old and are stepping up their interest, as reported by The Mirror.

Speculation over Toney's future at Brentford will likely increase in the coming weeks, but boss Frank is currently remaining quiet on the situation.

When asked if he fears he may not play for the club again in Tuesday's press conference, Frank said: «That's too far ahead, I'm not even thinking about that.

»Ask me when we get a little bit closer, I probably can't answer your question but maybe a little bit closer to the actual situation."

He also remarked: «For me as a coach, I don’t want to sell him. Of course I want my best players. Of course I say to Phil [Giles] or Matt [Benham] ‘don’t sell him’.

“Ivan is a world class player, so why should we sell a world class player? I want him to play for Brentford for the rest of his contract but that’s not up to me to decide.”

Frank continued: „As you know we are preparing for transfer windows ahead. Of course, we are not only looking not only at striker options or full-back, we are prepared for any position if something should happen.

“I think it’s also fair to say that if we wanted a striker in the summer we could’ve tried to get one, we got one in Neal [Maupay], you could say that, so, yeah,