Arsenal May Be Forced To Pay More Than £105 Million For Top Target

According to Brentford manager Thomas Frank, Arsenal transfer target, Ivan Toney, will cost more than the likes of Declan Rice and Moises Caicedo.

Toney is now officially allowed to be back in first-team training with Brentford having served the first part of his punishment sent down by the FA for breaching their betting and gambling rules as a professional footballer in England.

The England international has taken the Premier League by storm since he arrived for the second time with Brentford – having been deemed not good enough by Newcastle United earlier in his career – having scored 32 times in 68 appearances.

That sort of form has helped Brentford record respectable finishes in the top half of the Premier League and even push for Europe last term, but it’s also piqued the interest of some of the very top English clubs.

Brentford Are Willing To Sell Ivan Toney

Arsenal has been the ones most strongly linked with a move for Toney, and those links may only grow stronger the longer Gabriel Jesus’ injury woes continue to plague his time with the Gunners, but they would be forced to break their own transfer record.

Over the summer, clubs appeared to decide central midfielders were now worth paying astronomical prices for as both Caicedo and Rice went for north of £100 million, something which hasn’t been lost on Frank and the rest of Brentford’s staff.

“I think every club in the world is a selling club except five or six clubs,” Frank said live on Sky Sports. “We are a selling club if the right price is there and I think it’s the right time for the players to go.

🗣️ "We are a selling club if the right price is there." 💰

Thomas Frank speaking about the future of players like Ivan Toney at Brentford pic.twitter.com/xexvGTFtyg

— Football Daily (@footballdaily) September 19, 2023

“That’s not my decision, that would be down to [director of football] Phil [Giles] or [chairman] Matthew [Benham] in the end.

“I understand why there are a lot of rumours out there about him. For me, I think he’s one of the best strikers. As a No 9, I don’t see many out there in the world who are better.

Arsenal May Be Forced To Pay More Than £100 Million

“But he’s a Brentford player now. And with today’s market and the prices for No 6 position players, when we all know goalscorers and strikers are the most expensive ones, I guess that would be very expensive – unless it’s changed that you pay more for a No 6 than a striker.”

The message from Frank and Brentford is pretty clear, they are willing sellers but any potential suitor will be forced to play ball on their terms and that means Toney – who has a contract until 2025 – won’t come cheap.

It’s not just Arsenal who are interested in bringing in a proven Premier League striker, with his former club Newcastle tipped to make an audacious bid for the striker when the January window comes around, and Manchester United have been suggested as a possible landing spot, although Rasmus Hojlund’s arrival may put doubts over that.