Arsenal and Chelsea target €92m ‘risk and reward’ signing
Robin Bairner
- 1 Nov 2023 10:01 GMT
- 3 min read
Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham have been told to pay €92 million (£80m) for Brentford striker Ivan Toney in the January transfer window.
Toney is presently banned from football due to gambling offences but that expires on 17 January, when a glut of leading clubs are expected to take an interest in him.
The three London clubs are all in need of a striker, with Arsenal and Tottenham aiming to reinforce their respective bids to win the Premier League title, while Chelsea are seeking the impetus to get them challenging for a top-four finish once again.
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The Evening Standard states that the Bees are “willing” to sell the striker for the right price, with Thomas Frank’s side 10th in the table despite being without arguably their most valuable asset.
Meanwhile, Toney is set to push for a transfer, with the report indicating the player “has made it clear he wants to move to an elite club and has signed with super-agent Jonathan Barnett in a bid to fulfil that dream”.
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Why Toney deal is risky
Any deal is described as having an element of “risk and reward” in it. Toney’s absence from the game has been an extensive one, while at 27 years old, he is also well into his peak years and has never played at an elite club previously.
Furthermore, the €92m fee that Brentford are asking for is well above his Estimated Transfer Value (ETV), which presently stands at just over €29m, largely because of his lack of action. His highest ETV, though, only stands at €36.5m – still well below the figure the Bees want for him.
Toney’s upside, meanwhile, is clear. He netted 20 goals in his second Premier League season in 2022/23 while in his debut campaign, he still managed an impressive 12.
All the clubs linked with the forward, whose contract is up in 2025, would find such a return precious.
