The Bees will demand big money for their star man, but the England international is well worth the Gunners pushing the boat out for
We're not even a month removed from the summer transfer window slamming shut, and the rumour mill has already selected its next victim. Brentford are no strangers to having their best players linked with other clubs – it's an inevitable part of life outside the Premier League's top table. However, the recent reports linking Ivan Toney with a move to either Arsenal or Chelsea will be of particular concern.
This does not appear to be idle gossip, either,with Bees boss Thomas Frank failing to rule out Toney heading off in January recently. "I think every club in the world are a selling club except five or six clubs. We are a selling club, if the right price is there," he told ' Jamie Carragher and Dave Jones on 'Monday Night Football'.
"I think if it’s the right time for the player to go, from my perspective that’s not my decision. That would be Phil [Giles, director of football] or Matthew [Benham, Brentford’s owner] in the end. Then I think if they have developed well with us, been on the journey, and now they’re proven good enough to go to the top clubs, then I think it’s the right thing, if it’s the right price."
Initially, it was claimed that Toney could depart Brentford for as little as £60 million ($73m), but more recent reporting suggests that his current employers will demand something closer to the £80m ($97m) mark. That would make him Arsenal's second-most expensive signing of all time, should they decide to pull the trigger.
It's quite the investment for a 27-year-old who was playing in League One just four years ago, but Toney's recent performances suggest that he would have little issue justifying his price tag.
Getty ImagesProven Premier League goalscorers are so rare
It's little surprise that Toney is such an attractive proposition to the Premier League big boys. As the most recent summer transfer window showed, there is a serious dearth of reliable and available strikers in European football.
After a meandering lower-league career, Toney exploded at Peterborough United during the 2019-20 season, netting 24 times in just 32 League One games – and he hasn't stopped scoring since.
He registered 31 goals and 10 assists the following campaign as Brentford romped to promotion from the Championship, and had little issue stepping up in the top flight, scoring 12 times in the Bees' maiden Premier League season.
The trend continued last campaign, with Toney even doing enough to earn a spot in the England team for the first time in March. By the season's end, he had plundered 21 goals in all competition through 35 appearances. It could have been more too, if not for Toney receiving an eight-month ban from football for breaching betting rules. This suspension ends on January 15.
AdvertisementGetty ImagesThe complete finisher
His off-field issues have not prevented clubs taking an interest in Toney, though. To rack up such impressive numbers in the toughest league in the world, you have to be an elite finisher. And he is exactly that, capable of finding the back of the net via a number of different methods.
He is perhaps best known for his metronomic reliability from 12 yards, with Frank describing him as the best penalty taker in world football. His signature, nerve-racking slow run up has bamboozled even the most accomplished of goalkeepers, including Jordan Pickford, Nick Pope and Bernd Leno.
He explained his ballsy and effective method after netting from the spot in his side's derby win over Fulham last season, telling : "The wait doesn't matter, the longer the better really because I can get away and think of other things, like being away on holiday and chilling. The goalkeeper didn't move but I have always got a spot where I put the ball."
This dismissive attitude to pressure is typical of Toney and speaks to one of his other big strengths as a finisher: composure. Playing as a lone striker most frequently in his Premier League career thus far, he has naturally had to deal with lots of close attention from defenders. And yet, even when having to negotiate human traffic in and around the penalty area, Toney has consistently demonstrated an impressive clarity of thought.
No goal shows this better than the strike that sealed his hat-trick against Leeds in September. After a horrible mistake by goalkeeper Illan Meslier, Toney was quickly surrounded by a host of white shirts around 30 yards from goal. He did not buckle, though, delicately lifting the ball into the net.
Toney's mental fortitude is matched with a supreme technical ability with both feet – and his head. This is illustrated by the sheer variety of different ways he has scored since arriving in the top flight. Of his 32 Premier League goals to date, 13 have come with his favoured right foot from open play, while three have been scored with his left. Toney has also converted 11 penalties and two excellent free-kicks, as well as heading home a further three times.
The data only points to one conclusion: feed the ball to Toney and he will score. His 0.16 goals per shot ratio last season was better than that registered by both Gabriel Jesus and Eddie Nketiah – the players he would be in line to replace at the Emirates Stadium if Arsenal were to sign him this January.
Getty ImagesAnd Toney doesn't just bring goals
Toney should not be solely characterised as a typical, goalscoring No.9, though. There is so much more to his game that can often go unnoticed. As an attacking focal point, there are few players better in the Premier League.
Not only is Toney dominant in the air – winning just under half of all of his aerial duels in the Premier League last season – he also relishes a physical battle with opposition defenders. This is a hangover from his days in the bruising, English lower leagues, and the way he's imposed himself on the likes of Ben White and Lisandro Martinez in the past has earned Toney a fearsome reputation.
As a result, defenders devote special attention to him during games, and he drew 2.26 fouls per 90 minutes in the Premier League last season. Defenders crowding around him can also open up space for his team-mates to run into. By dropping just in front of the defensive line, Toney is able to thread through balls in behind or flick it on with his head – and he excels at doing both.
He is no slouch out of possession either. Brentford do not always press high, but when they do, Toney is orchestrating things, curving his off-the-ball runs to make it as difficult as possible for the defence to play through the Bees. He averaged an interception around every other game last season, as well as a tackle in the attacking third every three matches.
Getty ImagesHe'd suit Arsenal nicely – and they need a striker
With all of this considered, it's not hard to envisage Toney slotting into Mikel Arteta's starting XI pretty seamlessly. Arteta has consistently deployed a lone striker responsible for not only scoring, but stitching the front three together.
Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka would do well out of Toney's ability to divert attention away from them with his physicality, while his threat from set-pieces and crosses should bump up the Gunners' productivity from dead balls – they only scored six times from this type of situation last season.
Anyone who has followed the larger-than-life frontman's career will also laugh off any notions that he would struggle with the pressure of new surroundings in north London. Even when he was seemingly plodding along in the lower leagues, Toney has always backed himself.
"When I was in League One, I saw myself playing higher," he told the podcast in 2021. "I knew I'd be able to manage in the Championship and the Premier League. I felt like I adapted quite quickly."
Toney displayed a similar level of confidence when he turned down an international call-up by Jamaica, such was his belief in making an impact with England despite the insurmountable Harry Kane hogging playing time up front.
Now that he's proved himself at the top level, he clearly wants even more success, telling the : "Everybody wants to play at the top of the tree. Not that Brentford aren't there, but playing for a big club and fighting for trophies, I really want to do that. If the chance was to come along, I would be silly not to look more into it. The manager knows that I want to play at the highest level possible. Whenever that time comes, so be it. My time at Brentford has probably been one of the best times in my career."
Toney's supreme faith in himself screams big-club mentality. He's waited patiently for his chance at a Champions League club and now is his time to prove he can back up his hype.